My Christmas tree this year was made from painted slumped acrylic, shown below left with some of the crèche figures. St. Francis is credited with starting the tradition of the Nativity scene in Europe, portraying the birth of Jesus Christ using living people and animals for the first time in western Christianity. In 1223 he had the people of Greccio, Italy come up the mountain to a cave, carrying torches to light the way, to see the manger scene illustrating Jesus’s birth while Francis preached.

Below right, the evergreen tree is going back into the Christmas bag to come out next time with more animals I hope.

Christmas tree and crèche before Jesus arrived (I gave some of the animals to my grandchildren)

The crèche figures lend a hand in packing up the Christmas tree into the bag