Nativity Pictures 1 of 3

I know that some of those who frequent this blog aren't religious, but after all the work and time that went into this display... I think everyone can appreciate the scope of what is displayed and they're very artistic. So, forgive me a few posts as I embrace my spiritual AND artistic side.

This one looked a bit on the violent side. That machete is awfully close to the poor baby Jesus... but maybe that's just me....

Here you can see the "mural" I sketched and helped cut in the background. I did nearly 100 feet of mural which we cut and put Christmas lights behind. The tall "white stone" nativity in the foreground was given to me by my Mother-in-law just so we could have nativities to loan for this event.

Some of these nativities were photographed for certain people... my Mother-in-law collects crystals... and crystal snowman nativity... score!!!

I liked these patchwork quilted nativities... there were quite a few of these.

Another crystal one of the Holy Family.

Lots of glass and crystal nativities. You can see other tables in the background. There were over 500 nativities on display.

My Father-in-law works with wood, so you'll see a lot of wooden nativities also.

I liked quite a few of these... the angel one up top looked different from most others displayed.

I like the aged copper one up front.

This was Danish and I liked the bright colors.

Nativities 2 of 3

I love the rough metal look of these. This is one of the nativities there that I wished had come with a provenance and a hint on where to buy it. Seriously... it's just cool for a nativity.

This was my absolute favorite because for some reason it reminded me of the Sleeping Beauty cartoons with how willowy and tall they were. It looks so fairytale.

The igloo one to the side has baby Jesus on a sled. Each year they have a scavenger hunt for the kids to do where they look for certain nativities. The sled one was on the hunt.

I like the deep red/green one in the center, but look at all the stilty-legged animals in the one behind. I liked how whimsical the animals were in that one with their skinny legs.

This one I grabbed because it was different. There are very few duplicates at the event, believe it or not. It's pretty amazing actually.

I liked the simplicity of some of the nativities. I had to weed through 100 pictures to get it down to what I'm posting and it was hard. There were some really interesting ones.

This would be one of the interesting ones. Aren't those animals just cool? I seem to remember this one was all made from gourds, but I could be wrong on that.

This one is from Hawaii and in a coconut shell... and it looks all balmy. (I like the word balmy, by the way... balmy... balmy... balmy.)

Here were a few more of the more ethnic-styled ones. I like the Peruvian one up front.

In the back, you can see my mural again. There is also a nativity with a teepee which I believe is a Cherokee one... but I could be wrong on that.

Nativity Pictures 3 of 3

Some of the Nativities were simple like this one made of popsicle sticks... and then some were as impossibly complicated as the one in the bottle.

What Nativity display would be complete without baby Jesus in a five gallon hat? I think this one may have taken artistic license. (Maybe... just sayin.)

I don't know what it was that I liked about these puffy-faced figures but I thought they were cool.

The one under the glass in the shape of a tree... was awesome though it didn't photograph well.

I love the windmill ones. There were a ton. In the back you can see a tree with quite a few ornament nativities on it.

More wooden ones for my father-in-law.

This one was made with starched fabric... and I thought that was rather inventive.

I thought how tall these figures were was... interesting. Once again... it felt somewhat fairytale... apparently I see tall people as belonging in fairytales.

More wood... this time they used the grain and color of the wood more effectively.

This is mine. It's made of cement. I like that it's made from cement.

I tried not to duplicate those that I photographed last year... so if you're curious about last year's... this tag is the same that I used last year and you can go check it out. There were a ton that I recognized from last year... the origami ones and the ones made from newspaper for example.

Anyway... I showed restraint, believe it or not... I have a ton more pictures. I hope you liked these and have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday season.

Four Calling Birds

I'm a featured guest post on a friend's blog:

http://www.camarshall.com/

It's a short I wrote for the Twelve Days of Christmas theme.

It's a true story.

(The above is a lie.)

I need to get back here and post the pictures of the nativity but I've been swamped with Christmas stuff... maybe later... hopefully later.

My personal odyssey is over!

After that rambling post earlier, I buckled down and finished The Unseen Kingdom which is the Odyssey retold in modern day from the perspective of Odysseus's son... and it's a paranormal... and it's YA.

Di made me do it!!!!!

Honestly, I'll never take a dare from Di again. That was freaking hard. It was like someone had sewn pants on a pantser because I had to work in the Odyssey's frame. *screams* It was awful. *sob sob sob* Trust me on this.

On the other hand, it's done and I can work on other projects that will let me take these pants off and fly by the seat of them.

No... wait... maybe not.

Okay, fine, I'll leave the pants on.

*kicks rug*

And now, since I've had my celebratory pudding topped with whipped cream, I'm going to bed. Probably.

The Dream--the Real One

I've been gone all this week volunteering for a giant nativity display (over 500 nativities being displayed.) I did this last year around this time... and the year before. I can't remember being this exhausted after the fact but maybe I was.

I finished my nano 50K count a few days ahead of the November 30th deadline, but I haven't finished the novel. I'm stuck with about 5K left to write. I think it's sensory overload from the nativity set-up, but I'm not sure.

In other news, this whole process of querying and subbing and resubmitting... has been brutal. People keep trying to encourage me and I appreciate that. It's just... being a published author isn't my dream. I want to be a writer... and I'm there. I wanted to tell the stories in my head... and I've done that. What happens from here on out... isn't really part of my dream. I know I'm a bit of freak when it comes to writers. I think being published is usually the goal. I've done a thorough job at querying, though. I don't think anyone familiar with how many queries I've sent out and how many submission requests they've brought in... would disagree. I've done this right. It's just... a very depressing business and it's not worth it to someone who doesn't care. I'm thinking of trying a few small presses next and not going back to hunting for an agent after the new year rolls around. Honestly, I'd still just be doing that for my family and beta readers and because it's expected. Still... I'll do it.

I'm a weird duck, huh?

Anyway... my blog posts have been scattered and rushed lately and this is really no exception. I'm just exhausted today... and the words all feel fuzzy in my head.

My next post will probably be pictures of the nativity display. We'll go as a family on Saturday. They usually have a really cool scavenger hunt for kids to find interesting nativities among the rest. The kids love it.

In the meantime, it might be time for some Mt. Dew or a nap.