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#ChristmasCribs – thanks for sharing your cribs with us.
A Gallery of Hope and Peace!

Sent in by Bróna Uí Loing

Today is the feast of the Epiphany and the memorial of the visitation of the Magi to the Baby Jesus, where they worshipped Him and acknowledged Him as the Christ-child, our Saviour – and many of our cribs are now completed with the addition of the figures of the Three Wise Men!

We invite you to take a moment to view the #christmascribs photos below that have been sent into us throughout the last month and allow the variety, light and joy of these cribs and nativity scenes to sink in.

At this time of year, we usually begin to put away the Christmas decorations, packed away in a safe place until next year. Perhaps you have decided during this difficult month of January, where many of us are back in lockdown and feeling isolated, frustrated and uncertain, to leave your Christmas Crib out a bit longer than usual. Many people have said that Christmas has given them a sense of peace and hope in this difficult time. Let us take that hope and peace with us into 2021 as we hope and pray that this crisis may soon be over.

Even if you do not have a nativity scene or crib to display, we remember the beautiful words of the well-know Christmas Hymn “In the Bleak Mid Winter”:

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.

John Heffernan’s Crib

Sent in by Tina Ward

Sent in by Tina Ward

Donna Dowling: This is my Crib . Homemade by Richie some 12 years ago . Dressed every year by ⭐️Jessica and Maria⭐️

Sent in by PJ Stacey

Sent in by PJ Stacey

Deanna Greene: This crib is between 60 and 70 years old I have had it most of my life.

The crib at St Mary’s, Star of the Sea, Leith, Edinburgh

Sent in by Ide Cussen: My dad made this Crib in 1969. Baby Jesus is placed into the Crib at midnight Christmas Eve.

Eileen McLaughlin’s Crib: Hand made and hand painted

Sent in by Evelyn Pierce

Sent in by Gerard Bennett

Sent in by Bróna Uí Loing

Sent in by Bróna Uí Loing

This is my crib.. goes up early December. I enjoy the simplicity of it and the LOVE reminds me of all humanity so, for me, it epitomises Advent and Christmas season. – Sent in by Pat Hughes, Birkenhead

This Crib was carved in Peru and bought in Lourdes – sent in by Oliver Meyler

Sent in by Geraldine Walsh in kilkenny

A wonderful large nativity scene in a small country hotel near Martinamor in Spain on our return journey to the UK in December 2019 and the other of the Magi in a little church where we went to Mass the next day after staying in a hotel near Burgos on our way to Santander. They were a joy to see and they certainly do ‘big’ in Spain! – sent in by Diana Horton

Donna Dowling’s Crib

Gerard’s Crib – these are Santons, a tradition from the Provence region of France where figures representing the village / area and their crafts, are placed in or about the Christmas Crib. The main and woman in the front, with arms up, are Ravi- giving glory on the birth of Jesus. I buy these figures each year in Lourdes since I started collecting them some years back. As well as the traditional figures, there are more recent additions such as St Nicholas and we even have St Eugene de Mazenod and when I placed him by the crib, my middle daughter assured me that, whatever about the other figures, she was certain that he was not at the Crib on that first Christmas!!