The other nativity

There is one more nativity that was mentioned in the last post, but not pictured...because it is only fair that it get it's own post--because it is so cool...no really.

The centerpiece, and original set, is Veggie Tales--complete with a singing Laura the Carrot angel, Baby Carrot Baby Jesus, Squash Mary and Joseph, Wise Men (Larry, Mr Lunt, and Pa Grape), Cow (Jerry and his bother Gourd...what is his name?), two hay bales, a palm tree, and Junior Asparagus and his sheep (The French Peas).  Ok, you can't see all of them, but they are there.  Added to them is the Little Drummer Boy (Junior again), with his sheep, camel and donkey.  Finally (in this picture), are three Little People Camels (the Wise Men need camels, duh), a Little People cow and chicken, and a Little People lion (lying down with the sheep...very Biblical).  Mr Ranch doesn't even (usually) object to this portion of this nativity. It is child proof (mostly, there was an incident with the legs to Baby Jee's manager a few years ago, but it was easily repaired with some superglue) and must taste good--there are lots of pictures (somewhere) of The Boy tasting each piece when he was about two.  We even have a picture book that tells the story of the Veggies performing the pageant.

Now this would be the portion that gets interesting...the other half of the nativity...we have the rest of the Little People animals, left from various sets (zoo, farm, other things).  I think we have three horses, an elephant, three kangaroos, a leopard (my favorite), a seal, three zebras, a parrot, a polar bear....Then there are some little gifts that used to be ornaments, but don't hang well on the tree, a Veggie Tales action figure from a set we don't even own (Sumo of the Opera?), a wooden nutcracker (from Saint Nicholas this year)...and here is possibly my favorite, a Christmas/Santa train that I bought at Goodwill years ago.  It is missing Santa (stop laughing) but has an elf, a Christmas tree, a puppy (with a box you can put over it, so it is like the cat in Christmas Vacation), and a fireman and his fire dog.  I'm looking forward to next Christmas, when it looks like the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything might be able to join the group (this year they are still living in The Boy's toy box). Maybe they will bring their tv and ping pong table. Very Christmas-y, right?  Some day I'll get a Santa...they show up at Goodwill once in awhile, right?