Away in a Manger

I like to try and go to the Puyallup Fair in Washington once in a while. It is fun to hang out with my family and see the stuff mom has entered. I didn't go this year...

sort of.

Mom decided to take her fair experience to the next level. She has been entering her stitchery for decades, but this year she put up a display in the hobby hall. I came to help (before the fair started). The hobby hall is much what it sounds like...people put up displays of things they have collected. It could be anything really. Some of the things I saw this year:

Aliens
Classic Laundry supplies
Skunks
Corn
Brass Animals
Weird Al
Dachshunds
Thimbles
Transformers
I Love Lucy
Smurfs
Doll houses
Winnie the Pooh
Old books

Seriously...anything. There was even a display of creations made from rubberbands. My kids have done the bracelets, but I never even thought about making dragons with them.

Now, my parents have a LOT of stuff. They probably could fill up dozens of cases with their collections, but mom had something special in mind. She has been collecting nativities with a frenzy. Her collection has doubled in the last year. She puts them on display during the annual 'Festival of the Nativity' that the LDS church puts on in her city each year, but she thought the hobby hall would be fun as well.

Let me tell you, it is quite a process. First, pack up everything you want to display and drive it out to the fair.

Second, find your display case. Here is ours.

Third, put up some kind of background. Mom chose a very pretty swirly star background (wrapping paper). I think it was perfect. It was a little tricky getting it up there, but we managed.

Next, put all your stuff in. Good luck. Mom had more nativities than would fit. We worked on it for a couple hours and then left it until morning. We brought Alisa back with us, and with the three of us, we managed to smoosh most of the good stuff inside. It was a little tight, but it was necessary. There are so many awesome nativities. Check out the finished product.

Dad made some name tags to show the origin of several nativities. (Mom has gotten ones from all over the world.)

Everywhere you looked was another fascinating nativity. There were several that I had never seen before.

Mom had a good idea to put up a large magnifying square to display the miniature nativities.

I couldn't pick a favorite if I wanted to. I'm hoping to inherit some of these spectacular nativities and let my girls choose one someday. I asked mom which one was her favorite. I know she likes them all, but she chose the mermaid nativity. This one was special ordered from a friend in Florida. As far as I know there isn't another like it in all the world.

It was very blustery that second day that we finished setting up. Outside, the wind was wailing as it blew through the building and stage area. Kind of creepy cool. But the three of us managed to get everything in and out that was required. I was very proud of us.

It was full fledged storm outside. As we drove home, we saw debris everywhere and as I got close to home, a tree had fallen over taking out some power lines. I heard later that part of the ceiling collapsed in the Hobby Hall. It didn't damage any of the displays, but those who hadn't set up their collections had to wait until the repairs were done.

Other than helping set up nativities, I was able to relax and hang out with the family. Miranda and I were able to watch a movie and I played lots of games with mom. Here is Miranda while we were studying scriptures.

Tim was recovering from his foot surgery so he spent most of his time on the couch. And somehow I only got a picture of his foot. (Sorry Tim.)

It was nice to see Dad and his sidekick, April. She really is a fluffy black version of Moxy.

All too soon, it was time to head back to Utah. I love flying above the fluffy cotton fields. Mt. Rainier was peeking above the clouds. Gorgeous.

*My family was able to go to the fair this last weekend. Mom's latest stitchery piece received an Honorable Mention. (Good job!)

I also thought it was funny, because Mom said that while she was standing looking at her collection, a lady next to her leaned over and said, "There are probably nativities in there that you have never seen." Hahaha. Not in this case.

I'm only sad that I couldn't be there to help Alisa and Mom take everything back down. That was likely a harder task getting them all in the right boxes. Thanks for sharing your fabulous collection Mom.