Advent Wreath & Nativity

 At the beginning of the week I was trying to come up with something different to sketch related to Christmas so I decided to go over to our parish church. The church is always nicely decorated and I focused on this advent wreath for my sketch.

When I turned around to leave I noticed that there was something unusual in the room behind the main part of the church. This area is soundproof and used as a "baby area" during Mass. I decided to investigate and found that there was a huge, wonderful Neopolitan Nativity set up in that room. Apparently it belongs to one of the priests of the parish and with about a dozen volunteers they set up this Nativity for the congregation to enjoy. It takes up the entire length of one wall of this room and is probably about 2 1/2 yards deep. Every inch of it is covered with figurines and buildings relating to the story of Christmas. There are running water features and lights and clouds with cherubs hanging from the ceiling. Father Jerry has been collecting these pieces since he was 8 years old and has set them up in the parishes he has been assigned to during his priesthood. The entire thing was just so incredibly amazing! Here is a small video of part of it that barely does justice to what is there. It shows about 2 feet of something that is about 30 feet in length. I have a longer video but blogger won't allow something that long.