My father gave me this manger scene when I was little. I was just old enough to use water colors, but obviously not old enough to have a great color sense. Or maybe I had already wasted blue and red and green. (Clicking on the picture enlarges it.)
As I have mentioned here before, Manger scenes had a great fascination for me as a child. I was allowed to play with a set that we used under our tree. I remember moving the Magi from a distance up to the stable. I don't remember having any camels.
I also remember wondering why my Protestant relatives didn't have manger scenes. I guess that was partly Calvin's conviction that religious statues were idols. Then when they did get manger scenes, I wondered why there were no Magi. Only this year did I find out that Martin Luther didn't think that the Magi recognized the divinity of Christ. He said in a sermon, "They honored him as a king. Nor was the worship like that done to God because, in my opinion, they did not recognize him as God. What conversation they had with Mary and Joseph I leave to the imagination of idle minds." (quoted by Robert Kiely in an wonder-full article "A Long Journey" in December 21 issue of Commonweal) So I guess in our mostly Protestant area that's why the Magi were eliminated.
Oddly enough, now it's easy to buy a manger scene that has Magi but no shepherds. One of the places where I celebrate Mass has such a set. What's that about!
Thanks to the generosity of friends and family over the years. I have a manger scene with about 30 figures. Everybody and his brother and sister gets to come to the stable. I regret that I didn't find the time this year to get it out. I still have one on my mantle and two in my bedroom, enough to help me sit and reflect on the Christmas Mystery.
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