The Collector: Nativity collection keeps Christmas spirit year-round

Christmas is still three months away, but the meaning of the holiday is never far from Connie Christilaw’s mind.

She collects Nativity sets – 65 to 70 of them at last count and she displays many of them in her home year-round.

When she was growing up, her family manger scene featured a blond-haired, blue-eyed Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus.

“I started realizing other cultures do them so differently,” she said.

As a religion major at Whitworth University, she bought a small wooden nativity set for her dorm room. Its blocky figures and primary paint colors suited her space.

After earning her nursing degree from Deaconess, she joined the Navy and served 13 years.

“I wanted to see the world,” Christilaw said.

And she did, discovering unique Nativity sets at every port.

She pointed to a crèche made of carved monkey pod.

“I picked that up in Okinawa,” she said. “It was made in the Philippines.”

That set is what inspired her to start collecting them.

She still has the Nativity from her college dorm and the one from her family home, but the others were given to her by friends or she picked up on her travels.

“The only duplicates I have are two made in Peru from matchboxes,” she said. “Most of my collection is very small because I was traveling.”

The tiny painted matchboxes open to reveal the figures of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the Wise Men. Even smaller is a pewter thimble her sister-in-law bought her in England. A small hinged door opens to reveal the Holy Family.

But that isn’t her smallest crèche. That honor goes to the pendant she wears around her neck. She even has Nativity earrings.

“I didn’t search for them,” she said of her collection. “I just stumbled across them.”

Christilaw’s items range from whimsical bears to delicate works of art.

For example, a pair of glass globes from China has manger scenes painted on the inside .

“I don’t know how they do that!” she said.

Then there’s her favorite; a Nativity scene tucked inside a fragile bejeweled goose egg trimmed with faux pearls. It appears to be modeled after a Faberge egg.

“It was made in San Diego,” she said. “I got it at a craft fair for $10 – it’s such a treasure.”

Even more special, an exquisite crèche nestled inside an abalone shell.

“It’s the last one my mother gave me before she died.”

The Boyds Bears ceramic Nativity isn’t something she would have bought for herself.

“My friends gave it to me, one piece at a time,” Christilaw said. “It represents a school’s Passion Play. It’s so intricate!”

When her best friend’s mother died, she asked that Christilaw would get the family Nativity set. The pearlescent blue figurines were made in Greece and include a culturally authentic depiction of the magi known as Balthazar.

“Balthazar was Black,” she said. “A lot of times that’s missed.”

It’s the age-old story depicted in unique ways that catch her attention.

There’s a wooden crèche from Africa with a tree-stump fence around it. The lambs’ wooly coats are made from jute wrapped around their wood block bodies. She has Peruvian gourds adorned with the manger scene and a pottery version with a llama instead of a lamb near the Christ child.

“Their faces are Incan,” she said, pointing to the Holy Family.

While she’s not actively seeking to add to her collection, her volunteer work at Providence Sacred Heart means she often browses the gift shop.

She held up a recent addition, a lighted lantern with snow drifting around the manger scene.

She’s glad she doesn’t have to wait until December to delight in the wonder of the Christmas story.

“The variety is what brings me joy,” Christilaw said. “And remembering who gave them to me.”