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