Away in a Manger- Christmas Eve

 Dear Diary,

My nativity is now complete.  It’s good thing I don’t have a bigger table or I might have recreated the entire town of Bethlehem!  I have been collecting these hand painted figures made by an Italian company, Fontanini, for a couple of years.  They have been creating nativity figures for 4 generations.  The final two pieces, the trumpeting angels, I had to find on Ebay as they are out of stock and I needed them to fill the "sky" above.

The first creation of a nativity was done by St. Francis on Christmas Eve in 1223.  His creche, created in a cave in Greccio, Italy, only had an ox, a donkey and an empty manger.  A crowd of villagers gathered to hear Francis tell the Christmas story of the “babe of Bethlehem” as he called him.  Tonight, around the world, the same story is being told.  A blessed Christmas to all!