STYLE

Your First Nativity Scene

A good first nativity takes very little: a box, a dark backdrop, some sloping ground, five figures and a warm light. Everything else can wait until next year, and it’s better that way, because you don’t know yet what you like.

The only two decisions

  1. The size of the figures

    This is the one choice you can’t undo, because all the scenery is built to that scale. Unless you have a reason not to, go with 3-inch (7 cm) santons: that size has the widest choice of figures, and it always will. If space is really tight, go with 1½-inch (4 cm). If you’re starting with a store-bought set, build to its scale. The size guide.

  2. The format of the box

    A box closed on three sides, 16 to 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep, is the easiest format to get right. The frame hides the edges, holds the lights, stores in one piece and travels well.

The style, though, can wait. A first nativity is almost always a mountain one (few pieces, very forgiving) or a family one (where imperfection is part of the charm). You can decide later.

The shopping list

The scenery

  • A wooden box, a crate, or three boards and some screws
  • A sheet of 1¼-inch extruded polystyrene foam
  • A tub of premixed spackling
  • White PVA glue
  • Four tubes of matte acrylic: raw umber, yellow ocher, white, ultramarine blue
  • Two brushes (one wide flat, one medium), a natural sponge
  • Fine sand, a little preserved moss

The light

  • A string of copper-wire micro-LED lights, warm white, battery or USB powered

The figures

  • Mary, Joseph, the Child, the ox, the donkey. Five pieces.

That’s it. No bridge, no fountain, no village, no Wise Men. They don’t arrive until Epiphany anyway, and they can easily wait until next year.

The plan for one weekend

  1. Saturday morning: the backdrop

    Paint the back panel of the box in a gradient: ultramarine blue with a touch of umber at the top, lightened with white as you go down, until it’s almost pale ocher at ground level. Paint it lying flat on a table, not inside the box. Allow two hours, including drying time. The method.

  2. Saturday afternoon: the ground

    Stack two or three layers of foam and sand them into a gentle slope, higher at the back. Carve a path that winds up from the front toward the stable in one curve. Build a higher mound on the right or left (never in the middle) for the stable. The method.

  3. Saturday evening: the spackling

    Spread spackling over all the ground, dab it with the sponge for texture, and sprinkle sand on the path while it’s still wet. Let it dry overnight.

  4. Sunday morning: the paint

    First, very watered-down umber over everything. Then watered-down yellow ocher on the raised surfaces. Then a light ocher dry-brushing down the middle of the path. Three coats, one hour. Aging and weathering in four steps.

  5. Sunday afternoon: the stable

    Keep it as simple as possible: three thin boards for two walls and a roof, set against the mound and aged with an umber wash. A nativity stable only needs two walls and a little shadow inside.

  6. Sunday evening: lights and figures

    Bury the light string under the ground, with two or three lights poking out behind the stable, pointed at the doorway. Hide the rest of the wire. Then place the five figures: the Holy Family in the stable, the ox and donkey behind the manger. Turn off the overhead light and take a look.

What not to buy

  • A boxed set of thirty figures. You’ll end up with thirty expressionless figures from the same worn-out mold, and no room for the ones you’ll want later. Five well-chosen figures are worth more.
  • A ready-made stable in varnished wood. It’s shiny, too clean, and almost never the right scale for your figures.
  • Spray snow. It won’t come off, and it smells like solvent for three weeks. See believable snow.
  • Multicolored or blinking lights. Warm white, steady.
  • Printed rock paper. You can spot a printed sheet of fake stones from three feet away.
  • The Wise Men, right away. They’re beautiful and expensive, and they don’t belong in the scene before December 25 anyway. They’ll be a great buy next year.

Next year

Add one thing, not ten. In order of how much they add:

  1. A shepherd, two sheep, the angel

    The scene goes from “a family” to “a family and the people who came to see.” For three figures, it’s the biggest jump in storytelling you can make.

  2. Plants and a tree

    A cypress or a fir, depending on the style you like, and two tufts of moss in the right spots. The method.

  3. A stone wall

    Your first real building project, and the one that will teach you how to age things. The method.

  4. The ravi and the drummer

    That’s the start of the village. After that, one or two new figures a year is plenty.

And starting this year, two traditions that cost nothing: if you like the Provençal custom, plant Saint Barbara’s wheat on December 4, and wait until Christmas Eve to lay the Baby Jesus in the manger. That’s what people remember, more than the scenery.