Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I've been meaning to do a post about our nativity set and I figured I'd better do it before Christmas, as opposed to doing it after Christmas when I'm packing it away, which would be normal for me.

I'd been looking for a good Nativity Set for numerous years. I would see one that I quite liked, but it just didn't seem to be what I wanted and I hesitated to spend good money on something that only comes out once a year, unless it was something extra special.

About three years ago (I think) I came across a set all of a sudden (I wasn't actually looking for one at the time) and knew that this was the one. So I arranged to purchase one then and there, and it took quite a few months for it to arrive, but it was well worth the wait.

The background story is that the nativity set was made by Christian Women in Poland, who sew the figures to support their families. Each piece was hand-sewn by a different woman. The nativity sets are a ministry of the Elim Christian Centre in Poland.

Please realise that my poor photography skills won't really do the set justice, it's a thousand times better in real life. Also please ignore the fire place in the background, I was too lazy to crop the photos down (and lack of time).

Here is the first photo of the complete set...



The figures are filled with rice (or sand) and this is done by the recipient (to make postage much cheaper). Even with my pathetic sewing skills I was able to put in some rice and sew the tiny hole together. The rice (or sand) means that each figure can be slightly posed, to lean forward or backward, however you like. This comes in handy when using them to illustrate the Christmas Story, as the shephards can lean back to look up at the angel or lean forward to worship Jesus. Here is a closer photo of Joseph, Mary, the manger and the sheep. Notice the cute donkey in the background. (I realise that the Bible does not actually say there were animals present, but a nativity set wouldn't be complete without them).

My favourite are the Wise Men and the Camels. To avoid confusion I'm considering placing the Wise Men and Camels in a seperate room of the house, or at least at the other end of the room, so they can be travelling to see the Saviour, rather then appearing to be present at His birth. Here is a photo of the Wise Men with the Camels...

The boys adore moving them around and playing with them. They are fairly child friendly, although Caleb is banned from touching them unless someone is with him!!

The final photo is of one of the shepherds (there are two). I forgot to take photos of the angel, which is placed on top of the fire place. But that will give you something to look forward to seeing next year!

Matthew 1:21

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

I'm an artist with an unusual canvas

It's not just me who is a sucker for punishment is it? Is there anyone else out there that always volunteers for things that seem really great at the time, then the day arrives and you wonder how you got yourself into this??!!

Well I volunteered to do the free face painting at the Carols by Candlelight last weekend.

Yes I know.

But I've done it before, a few years ago helping out a friend who was the sucker that volunteered that time, so I was fairly organised and knew what was involved. Or so I thought.

See, the last few times we did it for an hour or so, overlapping slightly with the carols while finishing off a few kids, then leisurely sat back and enjoyed the carols. Not this year. We face-painted for 2 and a half hours straight.

Fortunately for me I roped in two other suckers, so there were three of us, painting kid after kid after kid. People were packing up after the carols, and we were still there painting faces (or arms, or cheeks or hands). I was using my flashing-santa-heads headband for light in the end. Is this green? Or blue? Oh who cares, it's too dark for the kid to tell and he's going to go home and wash it off in ten minutes before going to bed anyway.

Here's a photo of me painting a red-back spider. I thought this one turned out pretty cool, in a comical, cutesy kind of way. Don't look at my hair, I haven't decided if I'm allowing my hair to go darker as it keeps trying to, or if I'm going back to blonde.

Overall, it went really well. We got all the kids done, and they all seemed happy enough. Probably the happiness was helped along with the free Freddo's we were handing out.

(A big THANK YOU to the two other suckers I roped into doing it with me - are we on for next year???!!)

The boys got into the act aswell, which is really strange because up to now they've been scared of face painting and wouldn't go near anyone who had their face painted. They've suddenly matured in that area, as these photo's will show you...

Isaac had the Christmas theme happening...



Jacob's was pretty cool, although it's wearing off in these pictures. It was about 11pm when we got home...


Just in case you can't tell, it's a dinosaur that opens it's mouth when Jacob opens his. Cool hey!

Jeremy had a half-mask spiderman face, but he was in the shower already when these photo's were taken.