Saturday, November 21, 2009

Play Date!

It used to be that every year my sister and I would go to Bronner's the day after Thanksgiving. Bronner's is noted as the world's largest Christmas store. Don't know if that is true or not. It is really big.

Anyways.... last year we changed it. We went to Bronner's and they were having a Fontanini signing. My sister has been collecting them for years. Last year I started mine.


Lore bought me the angel to get started.



I bought the creche....



and the Holy Family. All are signed by Stefano Fontanini, one of the brothers that run the business.

Today we went and Emmanuel Fontanini was signing.



I got the King's tent....



which came with these 2 cute tables....



Mary's donkey that she rode in on....



an ox for the other side of the stable....


2 cute little light up campfires....



and the Three Kings, Melchior who brought gold....



Gaspar who came from India and brought frankincense....



and Balthazar who came from Africa and brought myrrh.


For right now it is on the mantle....



since someone will not leave it alone. She keeps telling the donkey he is drinking too much water and taking away his trough. I wonder if she realizes it is not real?

I swear collecting these is sooo addictive! I want to get everything right now! I have started my list of things to get for next year.

Does anyone else add onto a collection at Christmas?

6 comments:

Yvonne @ StoneGable said...

Maggie, Oh my! This is so beautiful. The detail on these figurines is very impressive!
I am not familiar with the maker, but this Nativity must be very special.
I was in Israel a little over a year ago, and the creche you have is very authentic. I was in Bethlehem and learned so much! Jesus was born (most probably), just like your creche, in the back of a humble house where the animal were kept (hence westerners think it was a stable) that was dug out of the side of mountain. I also was on the old trade route near the dead sea and saw frankinsence and myrrh... incredible!
Maggie your little one is adorable. It is wonderful that you let her "play" with some of the pieces... over the years they will become treasures to her too and connected with her childhood memories. She will also learn about the real reason for Christmas!
Thanks for sharing this very beautiful Nativity.
Yvonne

cindy said...

I generally collect fat cells for the holidays.

I can see why you collect those....really pretty. Way cuter than my felt weeble wobble nativity scene. Jesus even needs a new diaper. *sigh*

icandy... said...

Anything, vintage Christmas decor for me, I'm also getting into the pastel holiday colors... your collection is just gorgeous!
Hugs,
Christina

KM Studios said...

YES! Every year I get some kind of new Christmas decoration. And this year I started doing it for Halloween too.
Its the only way to do it. everything is soo exspensive. I try to make my own decorations too.
The only thing i do not have is a nativity like yours. Its beautiful!!!

Lori said...

First off ~ I need to comment on your comment over at Cottage Instincts about the sequins! I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!!

I used to collect Snowbabies but stopped ~ before that was the Coco-Cola Christmas plates ~ I have 4 and then stopped... Now all I want are things that have meaning ~ a collection that I can hand down to my nieces. I love this collection of yours ~ every home needs a nativity scene and I can see how this one caught your eye and has inspired you to collect more pieces.

prashant said...

I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!!

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