Christmas around the world

Here are a few of my little Christmas treasures... nativities that I have collected from some of our travels. The first one was actually given to us from our friends that live in Bad Reichenhall, Germany. Paul served his mission in the Vienna Austria mission and he met this couple back some 40 years ago. He has kept a close friendship with them and we have been lucky enough to have visited them in Germany about 4 times and they have been here probably 8 or 9 times. Every year I am always touched by the sweet, thoughtful gifts they send us. A couple years ago they sent us this Nativity. It is just teeny, tiny. The people are only about 3" tall and made from wood. It is very fragile. I love how proper Joseph and the shepard are dressed with their hats and long coats. I love nativity scenes that include palm trees too.

The white and blue set I bought in Cabo San Lucas a few years ago. It is made from porcelain and hand painted with the blue and gold. I love how Mexican all the people look except for the wise men.

I bought the colorful wooden nativity in St. Veran, France in 2006. St. Veran is a quaint little village with the designation of being the highest altitude village in all of Europe including Russia and it is kind of like a national park because it is preserved and you have to pay an entrance fee just to enter the town. The town had buildings still standing and in use that were built back in the 1600's. They had large photos (about 4' x 5') posted infront of many locations that showed what it looked like back in the early 1800's and then you could see the building as it stood there today... very unique. I found the nativity set in a shop that only sold folk art crafts. It is set is very simple and very light weight. The pieces were sold separately and I had a good time choosing which pieces to include in my scene.

I have a total of 5 nativity scenes set up in my house. The other two are special ones also. One is shiny silver pewter that I bought in Mexico also and then I have a wonderful large wooden one that my parents brought back for me from their trip to the Holy Lands probably about 25 years ago. It is made from olive tree wood. I like having that connection to the actual birthplace of the baby Jesus.

Finally one more Nativity that I would like to recommend to you and that is the movie titled "The Nativity". It played in movie theatres last year and we never quite made it out to see it there so when it came out of DVD we rented it. I was SO impressed with this production. We probably watched it in about June or July and right then I decided that I would be giving this as a gift to as many people as I could for Christmas this year. I gave a copy to each of our children right after Thanksgiving and to my parents and to the women that I visit teach because I wanted them all to be able to see this early in the month of December so that they could have the true reason for the season in their minds and hearts right from the beginning and hopefully it would stay with them through the hussle and bussle of the rest of the crazy month. Paul & I have watched it again and it is truly making a difference in my celebrations this year. So let me invite all of you, my friends and readers here, to find a copy of this movie and take the 2 hours it takes to watch it and let it have an impact on you and your loved ones this blessed Christmas time.