Our Nativity and a Giveaway!

At this time of year I take great pleasure in decorating our home for the holidays. I have such dear memories of unpacking our family Nativity, a wooden Nativity set from Guatemala, when I was a child. My brother and I looked forward all year to the moments when we would slowing unwrap each delicate tissue wrapped figure, and we were of course thrilled when we came to the baby Jesus figure with his manger!
For a few years now, I have had thoughts of creating a Nativity set for my family, especially for my children to enjoy.  I had fantasies of needle felting it myself, but I just had never found the time. I met Nicole this year, and we struck up a friendship through Etsy and our blogs. I love visiting her blog Lebenskuenstler as I am always inspired by her creative life in Australia, and I marvel each time at how alike our lives are as mothers and artists on opposite sides of the earth! I immediately fell in love with her fantastic wool Nativity set, offered in her Etsy shop full of amazing wool creations, it was literally the set of my dreams....and the rest is history.


The day that we received our Nativity set in the mail was so thrilling. We unwrapped each piece carefully, and arranged them just as I remembered from childhood. My children were immediately entranced with the set which I placed on the shelf where our family "nature table" sits for the rest of the year. We all love the tiny details that are so well done, like the different textures of wool used for hair and clothing (and the sweet little sheep!)...



Even the special angel watching over the scene, seems just so effortlessly put together!



I'm so happy that now, every Christmas season we'll be able to look forward to unwrapping this beautiful Nativity set as part of our family tradition.
Nicole has generously offered to give away one of her beautiful necklaces that she made during her family's most recent trip to Bali with old Indonesian glass beads,


I don't know about you but for me just seeing that tropical leaf in the picture is doing me all kinds of good right now! One lucky winner will receive this lovely necklace to cheer the coldest of winter days! Just leave a comment on this post to enter the drawing. I'll chose a winner next Tuesday, on December 21st, the winter solstice up here in the Northern Hemisphere.
xo

6 comments:

Lauren said...

Wow.... what beautiful creations... I can sense the love she put into that nativity set. I have memories as well, of unwrapping my mother's white ceramic set that was so shiny and beautiful to me... She also had a handmade painted set that I enjoyed a lot too. I love the tenderness about his set though... and I LOVE that you love it... I will go check out Nicole's shop, but I feel like maybe I already have...? The necklace is beautiful too... it emanates a warm vibrant energy that makes me want to drink orange juice or something! hahaha! I'm so having cravings for orange juice right now. Thanks for the Giveaway Nicole and Faith. Much love to you both, and may peace be with you and your family this week and into the New Year! 2011 :) Yeah!

rachel awes said...

oh my goodness,
that nativity
is heart-luscious!
& yummy necklace too...
you are a
magnet
for wonder.
xox

stacie said...

I love the nativity set! Isn't felting wonderful and addictive! Happy Holidays. xo Stacie

Jo-Anne said...

What a gorgeous necklace!

Ang said...

I've only recently started following your blog, I enjoy it! What a lovely necklace... thanks for the opportunity to win!

Debi said...

what a beautiful blog!!!! So glad to have stumbled across it thru Ems!!!!!! Love that nativity!!!! I want one!!!!! Love the necklace!!! Love love love it all!!! Hugs and thanks!!!

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.