The ABC's of Christmas - N

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,

Everywhere you go..."

The ABC's of Christmas - N

Hello friends and welcome to the ABC's of Christmas. Today, I'm doing the letter N.

is for...
Nativity, Noel, Nutcracker.

My nativity, I have already shared with you but I want to share it once more.
It was built for me by a gentleman in our last church.
I added gold garland for the straw and set in my porcelain figurines.
Each figurine is made by Avon and they date from 1981-1989.
They were all collected as gifts from family members and friends over the years and they hold much sentimental value.

I keep the little Bible open at Luke 2 for the Christmas story.

This little Nativity was a gift from a family member.

Usually the Nativity is simply, but charmingly, performed in the school or local church. An adorable cast of young children re-enact the story of Jesus' birth. While a couple of children may land the starring role of Mary and Joseph, a chorus is made up of various shepherds, angels, kings, and animals who wear an array of homemade headdresses and posterboard crowns. Sadly, over the past number of years the Christmas story is being presented less and less in schools because it is thought to be offensive by some. However, one may still enjoy the delightful performance in the neighbourhood church.

Noel (or noël) is an alternate word for Christmas. The word comes from the French word Noël meaning "Christmas" which derives from the Old French word noël, a variant of nael. The Latin origin is the word natalis ("birth").

A Nutcracker is a mechanical device for cracking nuts. The earliest use of the term nutcracker in English dates to 1481.

Of course, we all love the famous ballet, the Nutcracker. 
I have a few nutcrackers myself although I do not have them all out this year. My grandson Brent used to claim his favourite Christmas decorations were nutcrackers!

Source Internet

Nutcrackers in the form of wooden carvings of a soldier, knight, king, or other profession have existed since at least the 15th century. These nutcrackers portray a person with a large mouth which the operator opens by lifting a lever in the back of the figurine. Originally one could insert a nut in the big-toothed mouth, press down and thereby crack the nut. Modern nutcrackers in this style serve mostly for decoration, mainly at Christmastime. The ballet The Nutcracker derives its name from this festive holiday decoration.

This is one of my little trees decorated with mini nutcrackers.

One of my nutcrackers on the tree.

This nutcracker stands guard beside my gingerbread house at my Sugar Plum Fairy Tea which I hosted a few years ago.

Thank you for stopping by and please come back tomorrow for the letter O.

Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi