Nativities by the Hundreds

Sarah and Chris with one of the largest indoor Nativities I've ever seen.

December 3, 2016

Once I'd downloaded and edited the remaining photos from last night's visit to a huge Nativity collection at the Social Hall in nearby Snowflake, I was quite disappointed in the pictures' overall quality. The lesson is this: keep your camera fully charged at all times! I'd exhausted my battery at Sarah's concert prior to seeing the display, so I'd had to rely upon my cell phone instead. 

Part of the issue was that the Nativities were roped off to prevent handling by the public. One can hardly blame them for that, but it made it impossible to get as close to them as required by my little phone. The other part of the problem was that I too often tried to get as many Nativities as possible into a single shot. As much as I'd have loved to capture each one in detail, there were just too many for that. You'll notice that some of these pictures contain as many as seven, to ten, to fourteen Nativity sets in a single shot. Multiply that by the sixty pictures I took (not all posted here) and the fact that I skipped over some that are more commonly seen, and you'll perhaps understand why I'm sure there were at least four to five hundred Nativities in all.

There were Nativities both under the tree and hanging on the tree.

And so, with apologies for the poor quality (I'll spare you the worst of them), here is a tour of the beautiful Nativity collection we enjoyed last night. Remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it. Many of these Nativities are humbly simple, while others are simply awe-inspiring. 

I had a lot of favorites among this huge collection of Nativities.

This one would be one of my top three.

Another favorite. I'm especially impressed by the backdrop.

And I like the sunshade over the saddle on the camel.

These are all beautiful, but I truly love the glass Nativity.

This Nativity is sculpted of metal. Check out Mary's curls.

I think the Nativities crafted of real fabrics are fascinating.

Many of the Nativities came from other countries.

Adorable. What more is there to say?

When I spoke of humbly simple, I was thinking of this Popsicle stable. 

I love this message.

I love the style of Jim Shores's art (upper left).

Rustic bears on the left, Japanese on the right.

Check out the rubber ducky Nativity toward the back on the left.

Snowmen, large and small.

Handmade stitchery.

I'm so sad that these last two didn't turn out clearly. Not only is there beautiful handiwork here, but there are also two Native American Nativities. Native art has always had a special place in my heart. If you stare at it really hard and cross your eyes just a little bit, you might be able to make out the stable in tepee form, as well as an elk, buffalo, bear, horse, eagle, and rabbits among the animals standing watch. 

May we always remember the reason for the season!

Concert of Carols

We were treated to little ballerinas during the Christmas concert of

White Mountain Symphony Orchestra today.

December 3, 2016

This afternoon Mark and I attended Sarah's annual Christmas concert with White Mountain Symphony Orchestra. It's always fun to enjoy holiday music this time of year, especially when my daughter is one of those making the music.

As usual, we couldn't see Sarah from where we were seated.

She and her violin were somewhere in back on the left.

This year has been a little off-kilter for me. Usually by Thanksgiving, I can't wait to put on Christmas music and start decorating the house and doing my Christmas shopping. Now, here it is a full week after Thanksgiving, and for some reason it just hasn't hit me yet. I don't even have a Christmas tree. No, I'm not feeling Scrooge-ish. I think it's simply due to the fact that this is the first Christmas in which I no longer have any of my children living under my roof.

All the tiny ballerinas come out to dance during the Nutcracker Suite.

My kids, on the other hand, are certainly enjoying the Christmas spirit. Sarah and Chris already have their tree up and finished their Christmas shopping yesterday. Dylan and Jake have decorated their apartment, and they did all their Christmas shopping two days ago. Even Jacob has already called me from Utah to ask for gift ideas for the family. (Not that I was any help to him...)

 Here's two minutes' worth of little ballerinas making their Christmas debut. Adorable!

I guess it's time to get my head in the game! I really enjoyed the Christmas concert by Nashville Tribute Band two weeks ago, and I have been listening to their album, Merry. Today's concert touched me a little more, to the point of even bringing tears to my eyes. And then, after the concert, we went to a beautiful display of literally hundreds of Nativity Scenes just a few blocks from the concert, which was held at Snowflake High School, about thirty minutes north of our town.

A few blocks from Snowflake High School is the historic Main Street Chapel,

where Jacob and Danielle held their wedding reception more than two years ago.

It's one of the oldest LDS chapels still in use.

Tucked behind the Main Street Chapel is the LDS Social Hall

A sign for the Nativity display outside the Social Hall's doors.

The first Nativity we saw was outside the Social Hall doors.

Naturally, I used up my camera battery during the concert, so I turned instead to my trusty cell phone camera to capture the Nativity collection. I apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures. I only hope they convey somehow the complete awesomeness of this huge display.

I've only been inside the Social Hall a couple of times, to attend wedding receptions,

since I don't spend much time in Snowflake. I didn't even know it had a theater inside.

They had a short Christmas video playing here.

I'm not exaggerating when I say there were hundreds of Nativities on display in the Social Hall. I estimate that there were about 400 Nativity Scenes of various types. And that's a conservative guess. I took about sixty pictures in all. Most of those shots show multiple scenes, and I didn't even capture every Nativity on film.

This is how I imagine Mary and her Firstborn.

I'm not going to share all those pictures in this post. There are simply too many, so I'll do a separate post tomorrow. However, I will share a few of them now. Not every scene was a traditional, three-dimensional Nativity Scene. Many were portraits capturing a single moment. Some were signs sharing the Good News. The items displayed were eclectic in nature and all were very sweet or deeply moving in their own way. It was an inspiring reminder of the reason for the season.

This was a sewn tapestry.

Be sure to read the inscription on the frame, too.

Another of my favorite portrayals of Mary as a new mother.

Mary and Joseph en route to Bethlehem.

I thought this drawing superimposed on sheet music from

The Messiah was so sweet.

Another, more complex tapestry.

Stylized, ornament-shaped embroideries depicting the Nativity.

After we explored the Nativities for about an hour, Sarah, Chris, Mark, and I went out for Mexican food at Aliberto's. Then we went our separate ways for the evening: they to their home, and Mark and I to do some shopping. And now, at last, I'm ready to plunge into the fun of holiday traditions and Christmas joy!

Love this.

First Snow

Looking north up the road in front of my house on the way to work this morning.

November 28, 2016

We finally got our first snow of the season! It started last night not long after dark. The snow was fairly light, but it was steady, and we had about an inch of snow on the ground by the time we woke up this morning. Not quite enough to call a two-hour delay for school, darn it, but very beautiful nonetheless. Having to clean off your car when the temperature is below freezing isn't much fun, and yet we find ourselves looking forward to the magic of that first snowfall every year.

Icicles on the bottom of my car after school.

I thought the storm would move on and the snow would melt off by afternoon, but it continued off and on all day. By the time I left school at 4:15, the light but steady snow had resumed. I found my car covered in snow, and icicles had even formed along the bottom.

The temperature when I started my car about 4:15 this afternoon.

Mark and I left the house around 4:45 to run some errands, and the snow continued on. We stopped by Walmart and then we went to Lowe's to look at artificial Christmas trees. I don't care for fake trees, but after years of tromping through mountain snow to locate and cut our own trees, I've decided my knees just aren't up to it anymore. Time to get a really nice, really realistic artificial tree with sturdy branches and colorful lights already in place. We'll leave the tree-cutting adventures to the youngsters!

I didn't like any of Walmart's fake trees because they look, well, fake. There were a couple at Lowe's I thought were passable, but I decided to check out Home Depot's trees before I make a final decision. And Mark and I agreed that Home Depot can wait another day or two. An icy wind outside was chilling us to the bone, so we headed back to the warm house. By the time we got home around 6:00, there was another inch of snow on the ground.

Luckily, the pebbly snow on my window wasn't frozen on.

This story has a happy ending. Ten minutes after we got home from shopping, I got a text from my principal notifying me that we're on a two-hour delay tomorrow morning. That's right, I get to sleep in until 8:00! Woohoo! Life is good!