Collections - 27. Chapter 27 -- Six Nativities

A short, early Christmas piece of silliness. In continuing to sort through my husband Tom’s personal and family stuff, we found six nativities. These are like The Twilight Zone episode that kept repeating with tiny changes, only funnier.

1. Six 3" frosted glass figures – Baby Jesus in his manger; Mary kneeling on both knees, hands crossed on her chest; short- bearded Joseph standing; and longer-bearded three kings, two standing, one on one knee. No stable. Tom has no idea where this set came from, and it was still neatly packed in its small cardboard box with a picture of the set-up on the front.

2. Seven 4" figures made of some lightweight early composite material, possibly glue and sawdust – Mary on one kneel, hands crossed on her chest; dark-haired, medium-bearded Joseph on one knee, reddish beard not matching his black-brown hair; two kings – one tan, kneeling, one white standing; two identical sheep, and a cow, all three lying down. No Baby Jesus, manger, or stable, and Joseph could be the shepherd because there’s a hole in one of his hands, possibly for a crook. But that could also be for his walking stick, which shows up in other sets. Tom thinks this nativity might be the remains of his late first husband Garrett’s family set, toted from St. Albans, where he was raised.

3. Six 2" ceramic figures – Mary, standing, hands crossed on her chest; Joseph on one knee, with a longer, medium-length dark beard matching his hair; two Black kings, one lighter-skinned on one knee, one standing, both with long beards, one white to match his hair, one dark brown. Manger but no Baby Jesus and an Alpine chalet style log stable. The last figure is a blue-cloaked, standing, praying woman, who could be the wingless Angel or could be Mary, wandered in from some other nativity. Tom has no idea where this set came from, either.

4. The Pueblo nativity – eight 3" clay, dark-haired Native American figures, plus one sheep and a burro. Trussed Baby Jesus tightly restrained in his manger; Mary on both knees, hands praying on her chest; clean-shaven Joseph on both knees, hands together at his waist; three standing kings; a female Angel, hands praying; and a shepherd with a smiling lamb tucked comfortably under his arm. The other two animals are lying down. All the men wear headbands, and all the people, including the Angel, wear turquoise jewelry, including a piece on Baby Jesus’ manger, and a pair of earrings for Joseph. The Angel also has a slightly raised, shiny gold halo, and everyone except Jesus looks like they’re about twenty-five-years-old, like a road company nativity. The manger is a kind of a roofless, adobe, bombed out WWII house, with a spotless stove in the corner and a pair of clean cooking pots scattered around. Tom’s mother bought two of these sets around 1995, one for Tom and one for his sister, Karen.

5. The late 1980s, seven-figure, heavier and newer composite material 5" Sears nativity – Haloed Baby Jesus otherwise fairly undressed in his manger but lying on strips of tan packing material; Mary on both knees, hands crossed on her chest; white haired and short-matching-bearded Joseph on one knee, carrying his walking stick; three White kings, all short bearded, one on one knee; and one young, clean-shaven shepherd with a live sheep wrapped around his shoulders like a fur piece. A two-room stable, one for Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the adjoining one for the three kings to gaze reverently from, and a short fence to keep out the possibly riffraff shepherd and his grinning sheep. The thatched-roof, plank-walled stable shown on the box's cover photo once sported Lionel train-style fuzzy greenery on its sides and top, but it’s now shedding and brown. Tom thinks he gave this set to Garrett, possibly to replace that partial one Garrett lugged west from New York.

6. Finally, the early 1950s, Cecil B. DeMille spectacular, traditional Puckett family nativity with nineteen 3" early composite figures – Swaddled Baby Jesus in his manger; Mary on both knees, hands crossed on her chest; standing, white-haired and long white-bearded Joseph with his walking stick; three White kings, each with the camel he rode in on; two Angels, one on both knees, one standing; two shepherds, one kneeling; five sheep; one donkey; and a cow. The narrow, decaying stable in the background is made of Beaverboard, an early sound-proofing or insulating material, and features a now-detached roof and floor, and a star with a comet-like tail that attaches above the roof. The manger windows look like they were painted by a third-grader, and Tom said he remembers this set for as long as he remembers, so it may be nearly seventy-years-old. All of the people look slightly Asian, especially Joseph who looks like Confucius, so this set could be something Tom’s dad picked up in China when he was traveling for twenty-years as a Navy radioman.

There were also four holiday villages: three durable ceramic and one fragile, repaired plaster. Two of the nine-piece, 4" villages are based on the Tucson Presidio and have an identical triplet that Tom’s mother gave his sister. The non-matching, seven-piece ceramic village is English-style, though not based on Dickens, and the plaster set is only two building, one a post office, with a single, licking reindeer, a patient if unhygenic Santa, and his packages piled on his sleigh. All but the family nativity, which we've carefully stored but don’t need to display, and the Native American Pueblo have been donated to our neighbors’ church.

And Hanukkah will be here before Christmas, so happy celebrating, even if you don’t.