…to mention something I love!

To me, Christmas isn’t Christmas without a nativity scene. As kids, my sisters and I were always chomping at the bit to put our nativity scene up. I still remember carefully pulling the old newspaper off each figure, marveling at the vibrant colours of the wise men’s robes, at the shaky hand that painted Mary’s expression, at the chip in the bottom of the manger that I hadn’t noticed last year. Every year, we’d try to figure out a different background for the figures. By the time I was 11, we had a pretty perfect combination of black shoebox lids glued together to shape a bedouin tent (hey, we lived in Dubai, what can I say?!), huge pieces of dried coral to imitate mountains, and long, dried out leaves to imitate straw. I think we might have even tried to sneak some sand in there, but Mum wasn’t happy about sand on the living room carpet.

And it wasn’t just us. Every Indian family we knew got into it, and putting up the nativity scene often marked the beginning of the run-up to Christmas. Our church got into it too, and every year, people came from other emirates to see the massive 10ft nativity scene that one unnamed man would set up every year at our church. The figurines were tiny, about the size of your palm, but he would build an intricate 3D landscape complete with lights and running water… I wish I had photos!

But I guess it’s not quite a part of the Christmas tradition in the States, huh? I wish it was because, in a quiet corner of a bustling room complete with garlands, Christmas trees, presents, chesnuts roasting on an open fire, and Mummy kissing Santa Claus… it reminds me why I celebrate this time of year: Emmanuel. God with us!

I have no nativity set, and not until this year have I realised how much I miss it. I was really moved by this one:

You can get one for yourselves here! Cool, huh?

Ok, back to your regularly schedule programming…

-x-
aarti