DIY Christmas Nativity Scene inspired by THE STAR.

 When I think about Christmas, my first thought is not presents or Santa. It's Jesus. I was born and raised in a Catholic family, where going to church every Sunday was a regular thing. My parents made sure I was aware of the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. Sure they let me believe in Santa and they completely decked out the whole house in decor, but I always understood that Jesus was the one we had to keep in mind during the celebrations. I carried that with me forever, even when I decided that Catholicism was not aligned well with my full beliefs. I found a deeper connection with Him and learned a lot about my faith in the past years, and Christmas has definitely become my favorite holiday because of that exact reason.

As a child, I remember one of my most memorable memories was putting the Christmas tree up. Not for the tree itself but for the nativity we would create under it. My parents put a lot of time and dedication into their set up each year, and I was always ready to give them ideas and put my little creativity to work as well. It was magical and created this beautiful space in our living room for everyone to admire.

Unfortunately, my parents no longer create these beautiful scenes under the tree, but I decided that with our new apartment, and bigger space I would start an old family tradition with my boys just as I had done with my parents. I haven't fully started it all, but wanted to get started on the main center: The Nativity Scene. With the new movie The Star coming out in theatres soon on November 17th I knew this was the best time to get started and enjoy some creative crafting with my little ones. Don't let the pictures fool you though, there was a lot of arguing about who was going to do what.

We started off with this wooden plain tray from Michaels, and some green felt paper that we put right over the bottom of the tray to create a grass kind of look. We then took some beautiful washi tape with gold nativity scene illustrations to border around the tray. Once that was placed we started adding some hay to the bottom to envision a stable feel and placed the nativity set right on top of it.

We decided to put some small Christmas trees on the sides of the tray to add to the visual, and some mini wrapped present boxes on the side for a colorful pop. I wanted to give it a nice bright golden look so I found different kinds of lighting to add to the space such as copper wire lights, flameless LED candles, and a really fun lightbox to give it a personal touch. Lastly inspired by the movie we added some hanging star garland above the nativity. It came beautiful, and the boys loved it.


Once our tree is up I will be moving the nativity to go under it, and around it, we will create a beautiful winter village to go along with it. It will look just like when I was younger. Now the boys are anxiously awaiting the movie The Star in a couple of weeks! Watch the trailer below, and don't miss out on this very cute and funny movie about the first Christmas on November 17th!

-Disclaimer: We received compensation for all products needed to make the crafts, but all opinions are our own!