Nativity Stocking Tradition

Here's a stocking tradition I always thought would be fun if I had kids. I've always enjoyed the nativity story, and I love nativity figures and scenes. So I think it would be fun to take the nativity figures -- as long as they're not overly fragile or valuable -- and randomly divvy them up at the bottom of the family's stockings. Then, if the stockings are the first gifts looked at on Christmas morning, the family could assemble the scene in the waiting manger as they come across the figures in their stockings. I think it's a great reminder of why Christmas came to be celebrated, and I think little ones would learn to love this tradition, because children like familiar stories. Just as I always fall in love again with my favorite Christmas ornaments when I unpack them each year, I think children would delight in seeing their favorite figures appear each Christmas morning.

The particular nativity set shown above would work especially well, I think. The figures are made of cast resin, and shouldn't break easily. They're of a shape that I think would appeal to small children -- in fact, they remind me of Weebles! Each figure is 1.5 to 2.5 inches high, and while the whole set of eleven figures originally was listed on the Signals website at $59.95, as of today the set is on sale for $29.95. It includes the Holy Family, the Three Kings, an angel, a shepherd, a cow, a lamb, and a bull.