It seems like I've been posting all Christmas decorations, recipes, and crafts since before Thanksgiving, and in all that time, I've never mentioned the Reason for the Season! I'm not all about the gifts and the food, but I haven't made that clear to my blogging friends.
My vintage item this week is my nativity set. My mother bought this for herself in the late 1950s. I love it because I haven't seen some of the elements in other nativities. It has a great feather tree and the angels are made of a tulle wrapped around wire. The shepherd is attached to his camel with a reign made of hemp, and there is a woman honoring baby Jesus who is not Mary. I've only ever seen shepherds and kings, so I think she's a neat element. The set is in pristine condition except for a small chip in the baby's manger.
Although they are not vintage, these two really nice picture books also celebrate the true reason for the Christmas season. I like to give these as gifts for christenings, births, Christmas, and other important religious occasions.
The first is The Christmas Star by Marcus Pfister, who is best known for writing The Rainbow Fish.
Children love these books because of the Mylar elements in the illustrations, which looks wonderful as the stars in this story.
The story follows the star as it flies through the skies, being seen by shepherds and kings on its way to Bethlehem, where it shines over the barn.
The Tale of Three Trees
is written by Angela Elwell Hunt and illustrated by Tim Jonke. This Appalachian folktale is about three trees who want to grow tall and be chosen for something great. When woodcutters are looking for trees, they are never chosen because they aren't tall enough.
One day all three are finally selected and cut down. They are cut into planks and sold to various carpenters. Each tree is made into an important wooden element in the life of Jesus. I'm not going to tell you what they all are, but here's a hint of one.
If you would like to add The Tale of Three Trees to your personal library, leave a comment on this post about one way your family tries to keep Christ in Christmas. A winner will be selected by random.org and announced Monday, December 15 at noon, Eastern time.For more on Keeping Christ in Christmas, visit Tip Junkie to see all the ideas that have been submitted.
38 comments:
Elizabeth I really enjoyed your vintage Nativity scene... and thanks for all the info on the books... As always loved your post... Have a great night
(((HUGS)))
Donna
My parents have one very similar to that!!
I plan on doing a post on Christmas very soon, honey. I've got to get this painting finished first. I'm posting tomorrow on the progress with the color "PINK"!! You'll enjoy it I think,
Smooches,
Connie
I've never seen a creche like yours anywhere else. It's beautiful! Your Mom had really good taste. I know the story of the three trees ... heard it when I was young, so I won't spoil it for everyone else.
The angel on the star on my tree is also made of tulle and she held a foil star in her hand, but it's since disintegrated. I've had it for almost 30 years and it still goes on the top of my tree. I have only had to replace the bulb once in all that time. You can see it in my earlier post of Christmas Past Part Two.
Elizabeth, you are so much fun and you share everything you have with everyone. You are truly a blessing to God and the season. Stay sweet. xxoo
You have some lovely vintage Christmas treasures :)
I absolutely LOVE nativity sets and the fact that yours belonged to your mother makes it even better.
The two books you spoke of I don't have in my very large Christmas book collection, but I will be adding both of them as they sound wonderful.
A wonderful post - thank you for sharing.
What a sweet Christmas set! One way we keep Christ in Christmas is that we write Christmasy Christian messages of goodwill in the CHristmas cards we send out :-)
Elizabeth your posts always bring warmth to my soul~~`thank you! French;)
Not just on Christmas, I try to
give joy to others. Sometimes it
is very hard in our changing world.
Your creche is beautiful and a
wonderful family keepsake from your
Mom.
What a lovely nativity. An excellent reminder that Christmas is actually about the saviour of the world! I love your ideas for baptism gifts, I've seen that Christmas star book but not the other one. I'm collecting more and more children's Christmas books as my girls get older - they might grow out of them but I won't LOL
I love your Nativity and the little books are wonderful. I know the story of the trees and love it. Happy VTT..have a lovely day.
I love your nativity set. I have never seen one like it, and how wonderful it is still in such wonderful shape.
I try to spread joy not only at the holidays, but all during the year. Sometimes it is not easy.
I have a unique nativity out this year as well....I will show it off before Christmas. Great giveaway.
I wonder who the other woman is. That's really interesting.
Elizabeth, what a treasure you have there. Your house must be filled with so many memories. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Hugs,
Chris
Elizabeth, I had a few moments to myself this morning before I rattled my own Elizabeth into the morning, and I thought I would pop over to catch up. I love all the Christmas goodies and reflective writing. I hope you are well and promise to visit more frequently. ~Kelly
unDeniably Domestic
That Nativity is really nice. Like you, I also think it's cool that there's a woman honoring the Baby Jesus.
I read The Tale of Three Trees to my daughter a lot. But I always cry at the end! Sheesh.
I'll check out the other book too.
Your nativity is beautiful! I really like the feather tree, I might need to think about making something like that for mine.
I love, love, love your nativity.
You've mentioned my favorite author, Angela Hunt!
What a special Nativity set! I, too, love to give books as gifts and you reminded me of The Three Trees, a beautifully written story.
Thanks for reminding us that the first 6 letters in Christmas are, c h r i s t.
Nice post today!
What a beautiful manger! That is so neat that it was your mothers. Thanks for the book ideas too:)
Love the manger. Those are great illustrations.
That is a great nativity set. I imagine it would have been expensive too back in the 50s. To think it is now fifty years old or more and it looks perfect. Well cared for by you both. Love the tree. I also enjoyed your comments on the books too. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Elizabeth :)
Beautiful Nativity! I loved that it was passed on to you from your mom which makes it even more special :)
rue
What a beautiful nativity set, Elizabeth!!!!!!! I bet you pack that up carefully every year!
Justine :o )
Hi Elizabeth, I'm here looking at your Show N Tell, which is one family heirloom that is so lovely. To be able to bring this out for the season is truly delightful, I bet.
No need to add me to the giveaway tho.
My show n tell this week is a holiday story...come by if you can find some time, won't you? Happy weekend.
Beautiful nativity and post.
Beautiful vintage nativity set, and I love those story books too.
As a family we light an advent candle of our Christmas Nativity pyramid on the 4 Sunday evenings before Christmas, and sing Christmas carols.I blogged about it recently.
I think my grandma had that same nativity.
Hello Elizabeth!
Yes--your nativity is very special! I have never seen one with a feather tree! It is beautiful! All of your vintage things are true treasures because they are family heirlooms!
Loved your beautiful childrens books too!
Great post on the real reason for the wonderful Christmas season!
Enjoyed my visit!
Blessings to you!
Claudia O.
Hi!!
I Love your blog... We try to keep Christ in everything because He is so washed out due to commercialism... But one of the ways we do it is.. we each get 3 gifts only. After all the King of Kings only got 3 gifts... why should we get more?
Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog. Hope to "chat" soon!!!
I love to decorate and this year have 4 trees but always have a Jesus tree- one tree that has ornaments all about Him!!! We also read the Christmas story before we open gifts Christmas morning. I also listen to Handel's Messiah at least once during the Christmas season which reminds me...gotta go do that!
blessings
mary
Oh, what a beautiful Nativity! How wonderful that you and your family have kept it so carefully all these years!
And I would love to win the book! The illustrations look wonderful...thanks so much for this giveaway!
Amazing nativity, I love the little lamb, too. And your pictures are really pretty.
We read One Wintry Night, by Ruth Bell Graham. It is a beautiful story, and takes us a couple nights to get through it with the kids. We have a special edition from the illustrator, that we just truly cherish.
Lovely!
Perfect giveaway...this coming from a 'mimi' with her 6th grandbaby on the way....
Peace to you!
The nativity set is precious. We, too, strive to keep the Christ in Christmas as we celebrate His birth. When the children were younger, we always had a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day. Even tho we don't sing and blow out candles, we still have cake and each member of our family knows why.
We always have a nativity set, but a cheap one from Target. One day I'll have a nice one, but the decorations aren't finished without it! I love yours!
-Kim
On Christmas Eve, we read the true story of Christmas from the bible. I wrap up the pieces of a nativity set and number them. As we read the scriptures, each figure is unwrapped as it is mentioned. Even the smallest children very reverently unwrap their pieces and place them in the proper places.
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