{czech nativity}

Thank-you 

to everyone who left such flattering comments on my {holiday home tour 2010} post! They gave me such joy!

 Many of you admired my paper Czech nativity, wondering where I got it from. Since there was an overwhelming interest I thought I'd write a post about it AND I wanted to give one of favourite bloggers, Dana from Bungalow 56 some joy. She admired my nativity so I am linking up to her "Finding Joy" link party.

 Here is a bit of family history behind that nativity. My parents have the same nativity,  which they displayed every year at Christmas time. So beautifully illustrated {designed in 1923}, this version of the nativity has been part of Christmas since I was little that I was thrilled when my dad bought it for my sister and I on one of their trips to Prague. It came on a large sheet of card stock which you painstackingly cut out each figurine. The nativity is designed to be  displayed with each figurine taped to a platform, but I decided to glue a bamboo skewer to the back of each character and then poke the skewer into a batting covered foam. 

The figurines in the nativity are all representatives of typical villagers in a Czech village wearing traditional Czech dress, each bearing a gift to the Christ child, something they specialize in, for example, a musician is playing a violin, a baker is bringing bread, and we can't forget the neighbourhood pub owner who is even bringing a pint of beer {the Czechs like their beer}. As a child I loved to stare at the scene and make up stories in my head about each figurine. I love how beautifully illustrated each piece is, with so much detail.

What I am thrilled to share with each of you is that after a quick internet search you can download and create your own nativity!

All you need is some really good card stock and a great colour printer.

To download and print one just like mine you can find it here.

The fun doesn't stop here, I found another web site that has a plethora of more traditional Czech nativities that you can download and put together. 

The website is called the "Crechemania Store", it is full of free and for purchase creche downloads such as this one

You can even print ornaments, fold out nativities, and little houses to create a village.

Merry Christmas,
Barbara