About this time of year some stupid group will start complaining that this town or that city is erecting a crèche or manger scene in front of the municipal building or city hall.  Those poor, uneducated, short-sighted people.  Don’t they understand that the whole reason we have Christmas and Christmas trees, and Christmas cookies, and Christmas sales is because of what happened at the original manger scene?  It’s a very special time marking a very special occasion and those mangers being raised all over the world are our way of saying Happy Birthday to a very special person.  And on top of that, they keep the economy going.

Ok, we admit it started out as a bit more serious topic but as we started exploring the world of nativity scenes we found literally a world of nativity scenes.  We have a little help.  He of We has a collection of over 50 of mangers.  That’s over 50 Holy Families who come out of their storage bins once a year at Christmas decorating time.  When you see something only once a year you really take a good look at it and learn to appreciate what went into making it.  (Think of that crazy uncle you only see at the family reunion picnic.  On the other hand, don’t.)  So this year when the first newscast of the first group of dolts complaining about the first manger being erected in front of a city hall we got to thinking about all those mangers we’ve seen over the years, the beauty in each one, and the story behind every one.

We’ve seen nativities (complete with the ultimate arrival of the wise men) made of clothes pins, cheesecloth, corn husks, ceramic, glass, plastic, straw, bronze, wood (carved, sculpted, machine cut and assembled, hinged, and nested), bronze, stone, steel, marble, paper, wool, and rubber.  We’ve seen them sitting, standing, and hanging.  We’ve seen them in music boxes and as music boxes.  We’ve seen them made into nutcrackers and etched onto glass.  We’ve seen them cut from barn board and cut out of paper.  We’ve seen them from matchbox size to life size.  We’ve even seen an inflatable version.  We have them made in America, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, Germany, Italy, France, and Hong Kong.  He of We even has one that was made in Bethlehem.

When there are that many versions celebrating a single point of time it’s very hard to argue that the event must be pretty special.  Clearly somebody wants every culture, every nation, every class, every society to feel comfortable sharing time and space with a very special Family.  We figure those people who object to a crèche displayed in public just haven’t found their personal favorite yet. 

Whether sharing a front yard with an inflatable snow globe and Santa popping out of a chimney or taking a place of honor under the tree, the beauty of all those different materials made by all those different hands tells the story of love, patience, and decency.  What a great way to keep our economy going!   

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?