My favorite part of Christmas is setting out the Nativity. My mother-in-law bought me all the pieces to our Fontanni set over the course of a few years. The style is very classic, but the pieces are made of resin and won’t break when little people insist on rearranging the figures to suit. Several years ago Jesse insisted on a very particular arrangment: all figures facing the Baby Jesus in concentric circles outward. It was the sweetest reminder of how we should be focusing during the holiday season to walk up to the piano and find all the Wise Men with their backs to the “TV audience” but their faces to the Audience of One.
Watch this clip from Igniter Media. They do great multi-media stuff for churches. This piece on the Nativity is especially good.
Merry Christmas! Happy Jesus Watching!
Rare Rocks 
I love this and will share it with my kids!
The part about the birth actually taking place in a cave, rather than a stable, reminded me of the nativity scene I grew up with. My dad, an engineering professor, once brought home from a research station a cedar root that was hundreds of thousands of years old. He and mom cleaned it up and had it on a table in the living room as sort of a sculpture. (Strange, I know!) At Christmas time the root always served as a cave of sorts for Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.
Merry Christmas, Felicity! I hope your holiday is special!
Becky
Very cool. I think the Nativity is one of the most powerful images of our faith. I know the cross is the culmination, but the vulnerability of coming to earth as a human baby just brings me to tears. And the shepherds… and the magi.. and the star… Ahhhhhhhhhh.
What a cool video! It reminds me that no matter whether a donkey or a cart, stable or a cave, God still brought them to the exact place where HE wanted Jesus to be born. It’s a great reminder that no matter what the circumstances look like, God will always bring HIS plans to fulfillment. Thank you!!
Happy New Year Felicity!!