This Medium Christmas Creche
is approximately 13.5 inches tall at its peak, 16.5 inches wide and 8.5 inches deep. The Creche Stable is made of wood, moss and bark. The crèche has moss on its roof and all along the back wall. There is bark along the right roof line and stable side trim. There is a ladder leading up to a loft on the side of the stable. There are two white antiqued sheet of wood that have decorative slices cut in them. One is the loft roof and the other extends downward from the roof. There is also a decorative stone wall in the middle of the back wall. The inside floor is covered with a fine coating of tan sand. On the left side of the stable is a rustic wood bark structure that adds charactor to this wonderful nativity stable.
Select this link to view our Nativity Figurines.

Place of the Nativity:
How do we know that the Holy site is the site? There was enough evidence from the time from people who remembered the events. These were documented early. Origen, the Christian Theologian 185-254AD wrote that he saw 'the Grotto and in it the manger where He (Jesus) was swaddled'. It is thought that the manger was made from rough hewn stone. Several of these stone feeding troughs have been excavated in contemporary stables in Bethlehem. Though later belief had it as a wooden manger made from five or six planks of wood. The place has been saved from destruction several times. The first was because Emperor Hadrian, 117-138 AD in an attempt to destroy the new Christian tradition, had a temple to Adonis built there. But he achieved the opposite, because thus was the place preserved and its position and identity recorded! Early 1st Century Christians were remembering the Nativity, proof of which is to be seen in the Catacombs where they met secretly. The first full account of a Christmas Service at the Grotto was written in the 4th century by a nun called Aetheria. She refers to the hangings of silk, and the gold and jewels, the many lamps and candelabra, the hours of chanting of the psalms, and the Sacrament of the Mass.

The Christmas Crib
In the year 1220 St, Francis of Assissi visited Bethlehem. He liked the way the Christmas was celebrated there so much, that he asked the Pope for permission to recreate it in his own Italian village.
He built a manger in a cave. In it he placed a stone image of the baby Jesus. He surrounded the manger with real animals. Then he said a Mass (communion). The people found it so moving that they said it was possible to believe you were there at the actual birth of Jesus.
Before long, wooden nativity scenes were displayed in churches and homes across Europe. Today they continue to be popular as a way of reminding us of what Christmas is really about, the birth of Jesus.
A nativity scene, also called a crib or crèche, generally depicts the birth or birthplace of Jesus. Nativity scenes usually show Jesus in a manger, with Joseph, and Mary in a barn intended for the housing of animals. A mule, ox, sheep, and sometimes other barnyard animals, surround them. The scene sometimes includes three wise men, shepherds, angels and the Star of Bethlehem.