Where are Mary, Joseph and Jesus

I have a small transparent glass nativity. I keep it in my china cabinet all year round beside 3 glass fir trees. There is hardly a day when Alice comes over, that she doesn’t take it out and place the characters on a 5-inch ledge between the top of the cabinet and the bottom of the cabinet. On that flat small space Alice lines the characters up and plays with them. She does the same thing with the Russian nesting dolls, but takes them over to the dining room table to separate them and then reassemble them.

I wanted a Nativity set that has some colour in it, one that she could do the same thing with … all year round. The transparent Nativity seems so surreal. You can see right through Mary, Joseph and the manager. So I have been on a one month search. Mary, Joseph and the babe in the manger were no where to be found this year. Oh, I could find some sets where the figures are glued to a platform or right into the stable. But the fun is in turning them over, looking at each part and then setting it in a place and in combinations of figures only imagined by a small child.

The only set I found that fits the criteria of moveable figures was a set for $150 that was now half price. I just couldn’t do it though it was not about the price. I didn’t think that Mary’s tiny nose, or her delicate hands and arms would stand up to the taps and bangs that have occurred on the glass set. In fact, every time Alice takes these out, I think to myself, “This is going to be the last time this set is complete. There is going to be breakage.” But it doesn’t happen and she puts it back behind the glass doors and goes onto another toy. I have had more breakage taking the bulbs off of my Christmas tree this year! I know that Christmas decorations are cyclical and that every year the manufacturers manage to find a new theme: bears, reindeer, elves, country villages, and this year, fairies. And after my trip to the Spanish outdoor Christmas markets, I know I can never gather together those possibilities – the whole countryside: villages, farms, fields, town squares.

Still, I am going to keep my eyes open for a moveable set so that I can play “nativity” with her in colour. Just a few more shopping days left.

Arta