Christmas Countdown Made with a Nativity Scene and Stones
Home, for Christmas
Derek Becher – Finding Christmas: Tales And Poems Of The Spirit Of Christmas
It’s nestled in fragrant and frost-covered pines,
Whose branches embrace the fresh feathery snow,
At the end of the drive beside pickets of white
In the dark of the winter, the lone warming glow.
A thin wispy curl of cedar-sweet smoke
Flirts through the flue, and twirls to the sky;
And icicles dance down the eaves and the sills –
Frosty, frozen Christmassy sighs.
Nativity characters, softly-lit, glow –
A marvelous scene I remember so true –
With wandering tracks of the deer and fine fauna
Who share in the wonder of hope again new.
Birds whistle songs ‘round the pine cones and needles,
While stars sparkle high – only they could have seen
The birth of a saviour, now so long ago,
So quietly peaceful, so softly serene.
Still calmness I feel, halcyon holy eve,
The crisp airy breath, I inhale so deep;
A memory emotion, I look to my window…
Envisioning warmth in my bed, where I’ll sleep.
Our Christmassy home, ah the stories it holds,
So blessedly filled – warm laughter, love mild;
The music, though low, I can hear through the shelter.
I open the door, and again I’m a child.
© 1998 / 2021
Children love to collect stones and pebbles. There seems to be a fascination we all had growing up. I still bring home the odd rock when I love its shape. And when I came across Nell Regan’s Rhythms of Play website, I fell in love with the Simple Stone Christmas Advent Calendar. Her version is to be built with children and has a nativity stable.
I would like to show you a grown up version because we have no children. It is a last minute project. Just go outside and collect enough pieces for your path. We have a hand carved Nativity Scene. The plan is one day to build a barn to go with the figures. But until then I display the group every year with a couple of stones as accents.
Having seen Nell’s Nativity Scene I thought adding a total of 24 stones to the Holy Family. I arranged them to a compact path. If you have enough room, the stones can be spaced out as shown on Nell’s version. You can then remove one stone each day until Christmas Eve. I decided to not paint any numbers on the pieces. It complements the natural wood of the figures.
Bring a sturdy bag when you go out to collect your rocks. Even small, they accumulate quite some weight.
2020
