A New Year - What Will It Hold?

2013 has been quite a year

The notebook with our weekly letters to our children is full.

2014's notebook is empty - waiting 

What does 2014 have in store for us?

Festival of the Nativity

Nativities are a special part of the Christmas season. These depictions of Christ's birth help us focus on the meaning of this wonderful time of year. 

For many years The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has held the Festival of the Nativity. This free community event features hundreds of Nativities and musical performances by individuals and groups from the community. 

This year we volunteered to be hosts on the first night. We had the opportunity to enjoy the displays (and take pictures) before people thronged to this amazing reminder of Christ's birth. 

522 Nativities from 44 countries
were contributed by 98 families

144 Christmas trees; 300 live poinsettias (purchased by individuals & “loaned” for the night, to be picked up Sunday evening at the close of the Festival)

Large Nativity in the entrance to the meetinghouse

 Click on any photo to see a larger image and 
to look through all the photos in the blog post. 

In addition to the main display in the cultural hall/gym there was a room dedicated to artwork about Christ; a room where videos about Christ were shown; a children’s room with Nativities children could touch (above); an activity room for children and a room where children could dress in Nativity clothes and have a picture taken in front of a stable scene.

This is one of my favorites - made in Africa from soda cans

There's an alligator in this Nativity

Click on this so you can see the "hair" on the wise man on the left

on the right - Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus

The Nativities were made from a great variety of materials

Liberia - made from bullet casings

Haiti - made from oil drums

left - Poland (cardboard & foil)          right - coconut

My mother liked camels

I thought of her when I saw this Nativity

left - Guatemala                right - Finland

 left - Mexico                         right - India (wood & metal)

Peru - made of clay formed from potatoes & plaster of Paris

Zimbabwe - made from metallic beads & wire

all sorts of unique animals in this Nativity - flamingo, zebra, alligator

"This Nativity set of wire and beads is made by Rabson. The beads used in these figures are metallic beads, which cost 5 times more than regular plastic beads.  Rabson is a charming young man who grew up in a village in Zimbabwe. His parents were too poor to send him to school so he does not speak much English. He has been a refugee in South Africa for one year due to the terrible economic and political crisis in his homeland. Since the creation of a new government in Zimbabwe in 2009, Rabson wants to go back home because it is easier to survive hardship on one's own country than to be in a country" that doesn't welcome refuges

left - Finland                              right - Kenya 

this was taken during set up (boxes in background)

Poland

 left - Africa                 right - Burma

                                           right - Haiti

left - South Africa                        right - Vietnam

 Maasai - Africa

"for unto us a Son is given..."

Garden d'Lights

The Bellevue Botanical Garden blooms in the middle of winter with a beautiful display of lights. 2013 is the 19th year for this amazing display. 

Click on a picture to see a larger image 

and to view a  "slide show" of the images in the post. 

 6417 hours donated by 136 volunteers

If you look at this closely, you can see how the lights 

are twisted together to create each flower, tree, or creature

these meteor shower lights are magical

All sorts of creatures were scattered throughout the garden

the "aquarium"

poinsettia tree

12,800 mini LED lights 

 & 350 hours 

See pictures from December 2012 Garden d'Lights here