For as long as I can remember, my maternal grandparents had this large manger set up in their house for Christmas, but we kids were NEVER allowed to touch it. But this year, at my mom’s house, Grandma and I set it up together! Grandma says this set is about 20 years old, but I think it’s older.

They are kept in a large, plastic box with all the pieces very carefully wrapped up in foam and tissue paper. We took them out and unwrapped them together, and she told me where each one belongs in the scene. We found baby Jesus in a special box with one of the small lambs. We needed to figure out which king was bearing which gift. But first we needed to find the camels, which were in the bottom, yet needed to go into the scene first. Halfway into the scene, I needed to repair the hook in the back, where the angel ‘floats’, while Grandma looks on.

Here’s Grandma, showing her picture of one of the shepards while holding the ‘real’ one:

Here’s Grandma placing him into the nativity scene

Here she is arranging one of the lambs.

And here’s the finished scene: