DIY Natvity Scene

" And the angel said to them (the shepherds),
 'Fear not!!  For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke 2:10,11


This morning the kids and I made our own Nativity Scene.
We've been talking with them a lot over the past week or so about baby Jesus being born in a stable which is like a barn where animals sleep, and when I asked Ethan if he wanted to make a Nativity, he was more than willing to help. Both of the kids are very interested in baby Jesus being born, and I think having an actual picture of something helps them understand a lot better. Not that our little Nativity Scene has anything on the real story.  ;)
But where to begin??





I browsed Pinterest for some ideas, and there were so many, it was a little overwhelming.
I didn't want to have to spend any money on making it and just use what we had on hand.
Then I saw this picture and knew what to do!

Natural materials are so simple and beautiful, right outside our back door, and best of all, free!
Ethan and I went outside  while Ellie was sleeping and gathered a bunch of twigs, nuts and little tiny pinecones and put them in a container.

We decided to wait to make it until Sunday, so Hubby could be home and help and participate in a nice family craft time.
What did we do yesterday??
Completely forget to make the Nativity Scene.

So we did it today instead. :)
I got out my hot glue gun and started gluing twigs together, just kind of making it up as I went along and hoping, hoping that it wouldn't fall apart when I started putting the roof on. :) I just remembered all of those days as a kid building with Lincoln logs and tried to make nice square corners and stack the branches against each other as straight as possible.

I must've used enough glue, because everything held together and is actually fairly sturdy!

This is a good thing, because it is guaranteed to get played with.

We used clothespins for Mary and Joseph's bodies, and nuts for the heads, and a tiny pinecone for Jesus' body and the  middle of the sheep's body. I really like how it turned out!

We might add some shepherds or an angel at some point, but the kids and I needed to have a snack, so we just stopped at Mary, Joseph, Jesus and a sheep. That's probably all that was there to begin with anyway. ;)
I love seeing it sitting on our table. What a great reminder of what Christmas is really all about- Christ!