Nativity

Every year in Palo Alto, the church hosts a creche exhibit.  The building closes down for a week, and every room is filled with nativity displays from around the world; different cultures, materials, and styles are represented.  We went this year and it was amazing.  I love nativities; I collect them.  I took photos of my favorite ones, and when we were leaving I saw a sign asking for no videos or photography.  Oops.  I'll try to remember that for next year.

I always see nativities with the end result.  I never really think about the journey to Bethlehem, except in the abstract. And now I can fully appreciate how miserable that journey must have been on an uncomfortable donkey, over rough roads, in (potentially) nasty weather of some sort.

Russian nesting dolls.  Genius! 

It's a puzzle!

It's a German mechanism nativity; the pieces move showing the journey. Amazing. 

This one is from China; there are some dragons with the animals in the stable (which is a dragon ship!).  

From the Ukraine.

Fleeing to Egypt.  Again, a part of the story I never really dwell on when it comes to nativities.  

Stone carved to look like origami.  Amazingly intricate and delicate.