Happy Black Friday, Friends! Are you out shopping today or are you shopping at home via your computer? There are some crazy good deals out there! I used to go out every year with my Mom, my sister and her three girls when they were younger, but since Mom died, I haven’t kept up with this tradition. I’d much rather stay home where it’s warm and cozy and order things online! But, my sister and her girls still venture out some years and they love it! But, today I’m here with another fun giveaway to officially kick off the Christmas season! You don’t want to miss out on this one – it’s from Mary and Martha and is a 10 piece Nativity Giveaway that retails for $199!!!
This set has a primitive look and reminds me a bit of the Willow Tree collectibles. You can find all of the measurements and details for this set HERE.
This is a 10 piece set that includes: Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus in the manger, a sheep, a young shepherd, shepherd, the stable, and the wise men (yes, I know they weren’t actually at the stable, but most nativity sets do include these wise guys!).
The set has the appearance of carved wood, but it’s not wood. The figures are heavy, so they won’t topple over.
The figures also have a wider base that makes them sturdy and at the base of each figure are words in gold. The wise men read: worship, follow, give; Mary: cherish; Joseph: serve; shepherd: believe; young shepherd: seek. I tried to capture the details of this set in these photos. I hope you can see the quality and detail in each of these pieces!
Now for the nativity giveaway details!
There are two ways to enter this giveaway!
- Leave a comment on this post telling me one Christmas tradition you have!
- Follow me on Instagram and Comment on the Image below in my Instagram feed! Any comment on this photo in IG will do!
The nativity giveaway will run from today thru Sunday, November 25! And, I’ll be choosing a random winner on Monday, November 26, so watch your emails on Monday! Good Luck!
I love picking out and decorating the Christmas tree
A Christmas tradition we like to do is decorate gingerbread houses.
A Christmas Tradition that has run in my crazy Family since I can remember is eating fried oysters on Christmas morning. Had my Husband known that before he married me, I just might still be single Ü I’ve definitely mastered my own recipe and outshines any Oyster ‘Po Boy. But it is still a Christmas morning staple ♥
I have a tradition for my grandchildren.. Every year they get what I call a “Twinkie” gift.. Meaning they are All the same.. So kids range from 22 to 2.. Difficult right? Last year we did Lego Mugs for Big kids and Lego sets for Littles.. The year before it was coloring books and colored pencils or crayons.. Probably More fun for me then the kids, but years from now Maybe they’ll look back and smile!
What a lovely nativity! Love visiting your site.
Beautiful! I have been on the search for a nativity set, this would be perfect! One Christmas tradition I have is playing all the christmas music on the piano, just starting a family so still trying to figure out more traditions!!
One of my family’s favorite traditions is driving around town, and even outlying towns, to view Christmas light decorations. It really puts us in the holiday spirit and keeps us mindful of the one true light in our lives.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is reading the story of Christ’s birth from the Bible before we open gifts. My kids had it memorized and now my grandkids are starting to read it aloud that night. Hope they all keep the tradition going!
I love this set 🥰
I love this !!!!
I love it! We used to cut our own tree. Now the kids do that for their families.
Beautiful! This is what CHRISTmas is all about!
A Christmas tradition in my family is hosting a Christmas cookie exchange. Lots of wonderful variety of cookies and cherished memories of years past!
Beautiful! Christmas tradition is driving around and looking at lights on homes.
Love this set so much as we celebrate birth of our Savior ! so beautiful ! thank you also for your ideas and inspiration – they are tops!
Our Christmas tradition is adopting a family to buy gifts for with our Church’s Christmas project. Love to see how much I can get by using sales and coupons! Last year the family had 9 children….a challenge for sure!
I give our Lord a gift at Christmas. Write it down and put it in a decorative box…then the next Christmas I open i to see how faithful and obedient I was to keep what I wrote down
I think my favorite Christmas tradition when my kids were all young was anticipating a white Christmas (we live in Michigan near the lakeshore so we usually do have a good chance😉). We always frosted the cookies for Santa, watched Home Alone and drank hot cocoa on Christmas Eve. It’s hard when they grow up and traditions change, but now we have the joy of having grandkids over at Christmas ♥️
I made a felt advent calendar for my kids a few years ago and they have SO much fun pulling a new piece out of a pocket each day, slowly adding to the Christmas story. Definitely one of our favorite traditions in these little years. <3
Our tradition is adopting a family to by gifts for….last year the one we chose (from the tree at our church…the church “adopts about 300 families) had 9 kids….a challenge!
Hi! I would love to win this! We always go to look at Christmas lights. I love seeing all of the homes decorated!
I love this! We like our drive around and look at Christmas lights!
We open stockings on Christmas morning before breakfast.
Marilyn
One of my favorite traditions is Christmas caroling, which seems to be a dying practice, but something very dear. We have a collection of crazy Christmas hats, light up necklaces, lots of song sheets and we visit loved ones, especially the elderly and those in nursing hones, making new friends along the way. It’s a true highlight and joy of Christmas!
We have a tradition where we go out looking at Christmas lights. We pile in the van in our jammies, bags of popcorn and mugs of hot chocolate. It will be weird starting next week as it’s still November and most lights aren’t set up yet!
We have so many traditions! Baking cookies, donating toys for our Giving Tree at Church, making gingerbread houses…just to name a few! I cherish each tradition with my kids….Happy Holidays!
We always leave a light in the window on Christmas Eve so that the Baby Jesus will know that we have a place for him here.
The children head out to the grandparents today to help them set up and prepare for Christmas. The children get special time, the grandparents get a helping hand, and we-the parents-get a small rest before the busy season begins.
I would love to start a new tradition in my new Florida condo that I will be furnishing next month. This definitely would look lovely sitting somewhere on an end table or on an entry table..please let me win this beautiful set. May God bless you and yours this holiday season and in the new year. Thank you for offering this.
For many years my husband and I have been having all the family over Christmas Eve for a Quiche dinner. Then we all go to the Christmas Eve service together. It’s a wonderful evening and helps us all focus on the reason for celebrating this blessed holiday!
The grand kids while holding pictures read the story of Jesus birth
Christmas tradition: Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and procession.
The nativity is one of our traditions. Would love this for my daughter to start her own tradition!
We love to deliver our handmade gifts to friends wearing our Christmas gear and Santa hats.
Following the tradition of my husband’s family we open our gifts on Christmas Eve. My family opened our gifts on Christmas morning so this took some getting used to! Now that all our kids are grown, we have a family gathering on Christmas Eve where we open our gifts. Two of my kids also open the family gifts on Christmas morning. Our youngest daughter married into a “Christmas Eve” family so they alternate where they spend Christmas Eve. This year they’re coming to my house on Christmas Day.
Before any gifts are opened, we always read the Luke 2 account of The Christmas story. This tradition has been passed down for generations in our family.
We all open one gift on Christmas Eve. Our tradition is a snuggly new set of jammies to wear to bed on Christmas eve.
Birthday cake for Baby Jesus is my favorite tradition.
I love this smaller sized nativity scene. I gave away our larger nativity set (that we inherited from my husband’s mother) when we downsized several years ago due to my husband’s illness. It was a very important part of our
family Christmas tradition.
Baking day with my daughter, Sarah! We been doing it for 30 years. Merry Christmas to all!
A favorite tradition we have is driving around looking at the Christmas lights. Love the nativity set and the inspirational words!
Every year I make pinwheel cookies and a special fudge that a friend I worked with many years ago gave me the recipe for making. Now my granddaughters help me with the fudge, and that makes it much funner. I’ve always loved the Willow nativity set! Would love to have one for my home!
I love making black raspberry pies from the fruit farms I buy from during the summer. So delicious and a great tradition going back to my teen years and spanning to my current age of 68.
I love driving around the community to look at Christmas lights!
I bake a bunch of cut-out cookies and mix up numerous batches of colored frosting. My sons invite friends over for a cookie decorating party! The results are amazing and it’s so much fun!
My daughters and I share Nickel Trees.
My family gets together on Christmas Eve to celebrate. Instead of getting each other gifts, we play a game for anonymous gifts my mom purchases throughout the year. Once we open all the gifts, usually someone gets some kind of game and we all play it together. It’s wonderful to spend the time together with my whole family.
By the way, the nativity is beautiful!
On the three nights leading up to Christmas day, our family participates in a Drive-Thru Living Christmas Story which includes the manger scene and everything leading up to it. We have at least 2,000 people come through every year. It truly has been a special tradition for our family.
I started the 12 Days of Christmas for my husband the first Christmas w/o my daddy. They were the best of buds and my daddy loved Christmas. That first Christmas was tough not being able to watch the season bring so much joy to my dad. Thought a surprise on those 12 Days wld help cheer my husband. The next year he started doing it for me too.
My mom and sisters and I always get together the second weekend in December making Christmas goodies and making gift baskets with them to give as gifts to all of our friends, coworkers etc… The recipients have come to expect their baskets so much, they begin hinting about them in October! LOL
As we have gotten into our “golden years”, my husband and I decided to forego gifts for each other. Instead, we give each other Christmas cards all during the week leading up to Christmas itself. There are so many special cards to choose from plus I always make a few, too.
The same breakfast every year!
Our tradition is going to church on Christmas eve. No better place to remind us of our Savior and sing beautiful carols to honor Him.
This is a beautiful nativity set!! Thanks so much for the giveaway!! Our favorite holiday tradition is to put our tree up together as a family.
What a beautiful Christmas gift this will be for one special reader!! Great giveaway.
This is very sweetly done. I would love to win this for my Mom this year ! She has all 9 of us and our families every year for a Christmas supper at her home. My father helps keep the grits stirred until one of the younger family members arrives to take over this “BIG job” from Granddaddy Jenkins. This would be a great addition to her sweet, older style holiday decorations. It would suit her to a T though. Love your site.
Merry Christmas to you !!!!
P.S. Loved your posts about WACO!!!! Trying to plan a trip there next year !!!
Wow, I find your question very interesting because as I have gotten older and my family of origin has moved into their own lives, the traditions are not ones I ever did in the past. My life has become a set of new ways to do it, so I guess that is my tradition, finding a new way to celebrate the “lowly birth of the one who had made everything, and came down to live on earth.” (Wait, those are words to a song my Mom wrote for her Sunday School class to sing, so maybe my tradition is her song).
We bundle up and walk to the neighborhood Moravian Church where we enjoy beautiful music, the Christmas Story and celebrate a Lovefeast of a bun and sweet milky coffee.
We always go to the Children’s Christmas Eve service at our church. Some of our granddarlings participate and some are just watching, but it’s a soecial time! There are even live sheep, goats, a camel and a donkey that come into the church, and afterwards the kids can see them all up close!!! They get so excited!
I love the tradition of putting up the tree and looking at all the different ornaments. Just taking in the memories 🙂
My favorite Christmas tradition is getting together with both my daughters, making Buckeye Balls to share with family and friends, then, later, listening to Christmas music while we decorate the tree, with five generations of ornaments, such a special time.
We make a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus.
Baking Christmas cookies of course!! Fun and Yummy!!
We go to church on Christmas day to celebrate the birth of Jesus and have a communion ssrvice.
I have several traditions … each year I either buy or make a new nativity, I usually leave a Christmas decoration out by mistake so I started leaving at least one decoration and one nativity out to enjoy all year, Christmas caroling is a must, our church supports a children’s home in Mexico, bags are passed out with all the children’s and house parents names & sizes, the bags are filled and I usually take several with me to deliver and celebrate a few days before Christmas, what a blessing that is!
What a stunning nativity.. ANYONE would LOVE to have❤️. We all get new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve!
This nativity set is absolutely beautiful and I love the Mary and Martha website!
Our Christmas tradition is The legend of the Christmas Spike. We hang a spike to remember God’s gift of his son. And as we celebrate His birth, we are reminded that he loved us so much came to die for us.
I collect nativity sets, and love sharing the true meaning of Christmas over and over each year with my lovies, my 4 grandchildren. This nativity set would be a treasure to share at my Christmas party I put on for my lovies each Christmas! God bless…..
Traditions have changed a bit, since I moved from one state to another,but the family usually always get together a couple days before Christmas to celebrate.
We make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing happy birthday to Him every Christmas.
My favorite Christmas tradition is when I was a kid and my dad and mom would drive around with me and my siblings to look at Christmas decorations in our pajamas and then for Hot Chocolate!
My favorite Christmas tradition is that my husband always takes off work between a few days before Christmas through the new year. I love having him home for over a week to enjoy sleeping late, slow breakfasts & fun holiday events with our family.
Just to let you know, I commented on IG. My name there is jennylovescharlie. I wasn’t sure if both were requited to enter? So letting you know just in case!
My favorite tradition is driving around to see Christmas lights.
This is such a beautiful set! What a generous giveaway.
We have a Christmas eve party every year. It was a tradition started by my grandmother who has since passed but my mother carries on the tradition every year. We just enjoy each other’s company, eat loads of good food, play festive games. Santa makes a surprise visit when the kids are out singing Christmas carols while driving around looking at lights. Everything looks magical by the time the kids get back. On our way home we have always searched the skies for signs of Rudolf’s red nose.
Our favorite family traditions that we look forward to every year is making sugar cookie together as a family. We decorate them and then, distribute them to family & friends. We also eat a Christmas dinner together, play board games, & then, in the evening, we go driving around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights blaring our favorite Christmas carols on the radio.
After supper tonight I Facetimed with my son and his two year old daughter. I “showed” her our old nativity which we’ve had since her dad was little. She asked me to wake the baby up. She wanted to see the “lady” again and again.We sang ‘Alice the camel has two humps”. (I know not a Christmas carol but a song she knew!) I was able to start teaching her all the characters of the Christmas story thanks to technology!
I did minimal shopping. A Christmas tradition we have is to read the story of Christ birth from one of the gospels before we unwrap our gifts. Sorry I don’t have an instagram account. Love the nativity set. Enjoy this blessed holiday season. PeggyA
We have a family get together for snacks and gifts on Christmas Eve, and a big dinner on Christmas Day, but I love the service at 10:00 pm Christmas Eve, at church. We only use candlelight, and after the scripture reading, the the hymn, and closing prayer, we go outside outside carrying the candles and line up and down the road. We sing to the Lord, and to the neighbors! It is lovely there in the night, sharing, out witness, and fellowship.
Beautiful nativity set. Oh how I would love it.
My tradition is buying a nice gift for a needy child and delivering it on Christmas Eve.
Every Christmas morning before we open gifts, we read the Christmas story from the Bible. My dad always did this when I was growing up and we wanted to continue the tradition. I am thankful for the greatest gift of all, Jesus.
I always set up my hand crafted sleigh beside the tree to hold the gifts.
We have many traditions. The kids sleep under the tree, caroling, baking cookies, worship service on Christmas Eve, watching the movies White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life to name a few.
Ever since my two children were small, we always had ourselves a little tree trimming party with snacks and Christmas music. My children are in their 30’s but they still want their tree trimming party every year.
We love to do the advent. It always helps us to stay focused on the real reason for Christmas- worshipping our Lord!
We go see Christmas lights and make cookies and decorate them.
Doreen,
Every Christmas Eve my husband and I give each other an ornament. Sometimes the ornament is handmade or sometimes something to mark a special event. All these ornaments are dated and we enjoy hanging them on our Christmas tree and always talk about how special each one is!
This is a tradition my Mom started many years ago. Black Friday, instead of shopping, we stay home and have craft day. She would buy supplies the whole year for this special day. The next day we would put up the Christmas tree and hang any new ornaments we made.
I have several small nativity sets in my collection that I display at Christmas. Some of them Zi leave put all year.
This nativity is absolutely beautiful!
Since my childhood, Santa has left a book to read in bed before joining the family on Christmas morning to open gifts. I happily anticipated this surprise for years and now my children look forward to their new book while Dad and Mom get to sleep-in a bit before the busy day begins!
I love this beautiful nativity set! A favorite Christmas tradition for my family is bundling up, getting hot coffee/hot chocolates to-do and heading out to a local Christmas tree farm to choose and cut down a Christmas tree. Then we head home, light a fire in the fireplace and decorate the tree together. That first night sitting around the tree is the best!
One of our family traditions is making a dessert called Vanilla Fluff. It is so light and yummy! The recipe is from my husband’s grandma.
My maternal grandmother painted a ceramic nativity many years ago. I always admired how beautiful it was. When my mother inherited it, every Christmas she placed it on top of her piano. This is just another tradition I loved!
Every year my parents and I spend Christmas Eve at my brother’s house with his family. My SIL buys us all new pajamas and we have a sleepover!
We have chosen to give 1 gift per child and let them pick a Samaritans purse donation to someone on the other side of the world. Its precious to see how young children can show their hearts of compassion. I encourage everyone to share their blessings❤
We decorate Christmas cookies!
Our tradition is buying several gift cards and on Christmas Eve driving around and giving them out to random people we see. It’s so much fun
My favorite Christmas activity is attending Midnight mass with the family. It is such a beautiful Christmas tradition that goes back to my childhood – a reflection of the true meaning of Christmas.
My favorite Christmas tradition is making Christmas ornaments.
Our family always drove around to see the light displays after attending Christmas Eve service, then came home for eggnog and Christmas cookies.
We enjoy walking on the beach at sunset on Christmas Eve. All is calm, save for the rhythmic splash of the waves along the shoreline. So peaceful!
We do a Secret Santa starting on Dec 6th and reveal who were our secret Santa’s on Christmas Eve
Beautiful nativity set! We have an advent calendar that has stuffed nativity characters that you add each day. It was marked down a lot because Baby Jesus was missing. This first one I made in proportion to Mary looked more like a peanut shell than a baby so I made a larger one. But now “Peanut” gets hidden in various other Christmas decorations throughout the season. We all enjoy looking for “Peanut”
Drive out in the woods in the deep snow. (Almost getting stuck.) Hike in the deep snow, looking for the perfect tree. Do this for at least an hour. Go back and choose the first tree we saw. Saw it down with grandpa’s bow saw. Tie it to the top of the vehicle in the dark, fingers frozen. Drive home in a blizzard. Leave it frozen to the vehicle overnight. Next day RIP it off the vehicle. Drag it in the house to melt giant puddles on the floor. Cut it to height indoors. Put it in the stand to decorate. (Mop the water and saw dust from the floors.) Have a Blessed Christmas.
We have a weekend in December for me, my mom, my three girls, and seven grandkids for baking and candy making. We pack it in tins, gift to friends, older folks, and we have a blast.
My girls all say it’s the best weekend of the year!
Can’t wait!
Merry Christmas!
Making a lot of Christmas candy and sharing it with family and friends. Driving around to look at all the beautiful decorations.
I love the Christmas lights. I also enjoy receiving Christmas cards and hearing from old friends. The nativity set is so cute.
I love this sweet nativity! I have followed your blog for a long time!
Our kids are still young (age 10 & under) so we individually wrap our collection of Christmas-themed books in early November. At last count, we have 28 beloved books. We unwrap one each night at bedtime and read it together. Some of the books are chapter books, so I make sure to open those early in the month to allow time to finish them during our daily morning read-a-loud time. Thanks for the chance to win the nativity set. It’s truly beautiful!
I make a special fruitcake that my mother made for years before her death. It isn’t the traditional dried fruit fruitcake, but has pecans, maraschino cherries, and dates. Yummm!
I always begin decorating the day after Thanksgiving and it’s a 2 day chore, so that’s what I’ve been doing today. No real theme – most of my decorations are homemade or have sentimental value.
I set aside a week to decorate the house for Christmas, but I always leave our biggest tree (8ft) until Christmas Eve when our 3 adult children arrive. It’s summer here in New Zealand and we set the tree up outside on our covered deck. We also open our secret santa gifts and indulge in a glass of bubbles and chocolate nuts! Thanks for your site Doreen – I love it!
On Christmas Eve the little kids get to choose one gift from under the tree and open it. It’s always such fun watching them make their selection. We have more family traditions but this has always been a favorite from when my daughters were little.
It is beautiful Love the willow tree stuff One of our favorite Christmas traditions is hiding the baby jesus from our small nativity set and having mary & Joseph travel from one end of the room to the stable over the month of december.
We read the Christmas story from God’s Word before we open gifts on Christmas morning.
-JLW @MorningJoyCompositions.com
We made a carrot pudding with Carmel sauce every Christmas. We also go to our Christmas Eve service at our church or wherever we may be. We have a daughter in Calgary, Alberta and a son who lives Nova Scotia.
Our Christmas tradition is to have snacks before Christmas Eve service and then have Chinese afterwards. However, no matter what snacks we make we cannot ever leave out “pickles” which are large dill pickles wrapped in layers of lunch meat and cream cheese.
Our family always goes to church on Christmas Eve night to sing hymns and bring in Christmas with praise and worship for Jesus.
On Christmas Eve, we ride through a residential community where every house lines their yards with paper luminaries. It is such a beautiful sight and a tradition I hope our community continues forever!!
A favorite Christmas tradition for my family is bundling up, getting coffee and hot chocolate and heading out to a local Christmas tree farm to choose and cut down our Christmas tree. Then we head home, light a fire in the fireplace and decorate the tree together. That first night sitting around the lighted tree is the best!
Our Church buys gifts for the many kids who live at a Children’s Home here in our state, and we enjoy buying for and giving to a special child among those who “have none.” We have 15 grandchildren, and always enjoy their visits whenever possible. We love going to our Christmas Eve service with our families who are visiting. We’ve gone to look at Christmas lights … I treasure a number of things we do, but mostly, being with FAMILY, to celebrate the birth of JESUS is the most important.
The Mary and Martha Nativity is beautiful ~ I have a little “collection” and we have also given special small Nativities to our four kids’ families through the years. This is such a special gift, and you are very generous to offer it.
Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, Doreen …
This is my Favorite time of year…especially decorating the house and adding as many twinkling lights as possible! 🎄❤
Attending the Christmas Eve service is a family tradition for our family. Now that our children are grown and our daughter has children of her own this tradition continues. Whether we are in our home church or away with family in their church it is always a meaningful time together as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
When I was a little girl in Buffalo, my parents would drive all six of us around the neighborhoods to see all the lights. We so enjoyed that! I did the same thing with my kids who are now grown. Now i invite the grands.
While thinking about our family Christmas traditions, I realized we have more than I thought! The latest ones were started just a few Christmases ago with the grandchildren: Christmas Eve boxes (new pjs, book, dvd, hot chocolate), and having one of the nine (!) read the Christmas story before opening gifts. I wish that we could start a new tradition of having everyone together. Perhaps one day. I do appreciate your blog, Doreen!
We go to see the Christmas lights at a local shrine!
My mother is 83. When she was just a young girl (7ish) her grandmother gathered up some tissue paper and curling ribbon, from the wrapping that was strewn about the floor after presents had been opened, and made a dress for an unclothed doll. That doll is the last item that we place in the Christmas tree after we have finished decorating it. It is over 70 years old. I am 48 and it has been placed in the tree for my entire life. Once Christmas is over, it goes back in a curio cupboard until it is taken out a again the following year. One additional item that goes in our tree is a small Santa that my mother colored as a young girl. Adding those items to our tree will be a tradition that I forever cherish.
Our Christmas tradition is sharing our home during the holidays with family and friends.
We love to have a large family meal Christmas Eve
Nativity scene always goes up first and other decorations follow
My favorite annual tradition is a family ornament exchange party we have the first Saturday of December. We get to see family we can’t be with at Christmas.
One of our family traditions is to wait until after midnight on Christmas Eve to open gifts. My father says that it is a big no no to open gifts before Christmas Day; so we never have. We just waited till midnight and woke him up and said let’s go!! haha So we still do that today with our children. 🙂
I’ve collected and displayed Nativities since 1971 when my husband and I married, and I use them every Christmas season to teach my children and now their children about the meaning of Christmas.