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The Nativity Scenethenativityscene.com

Start here

  • How to set up a nativity scene
  • When to set it up
  • Your first nativity
  • A nativity in a small space
  • Mistakes to avoid
  • Outdoor nativity

Light it

  • Lighting
  • Wiring and safety
  • Sky and backdrop

Your figures

  • Who’s who in the nativity
  • Figure sizes
  • Care and storage
  • Fixing an old set
  • The family nativity
  • The church nativity
How to set up a nativity sceneWhere each figure goes, from the stable to the Wise Men.Read the guide →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us

Getting started

  • The complete guide
  • A nativity on a budget
  • Outdoor nativity
  • The base and structure
  • Perspective and depth

Figures

  • Painting figures
  • Making your own figures

Landscape

  • Ground and terrain
  • Rivers and streams
  • The bridge
  • The fountain
  • Moss and greenery
  • Trees and olive trees
  • Snow

The village

  • The stable
  • Village houses
  • Roofs and tiles
  • The stone wall
  • Stairs and lanes
  • Well and mill
  • Patina and aging
Twenty step-by-step guidesFrom a cardboard box to the last touch of light, step by step.See all the guides →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us

For children

  • Explaining it to children
  • The Christmas story for kids
  • Free coloring pages
  • Printable nativity
  • Nativity crafts
  • Videos

As a family

  • The family nativity
  • Praying before the nativity
  • When to put out Baby Jesus
  • A simple pageant

Share

  • Share your nativity
  • The nativity newsletter
Free coloring pagesTwelve pages to print at home, in US Letter size.Print the pages →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us

The story

  • The Nativity accounts
  • Gloria in excelsis Deo
  • The nativity and the Church
  • Praying before the nativity

Who’s who

  • All the symbols
  • Mary
  • Joseph
  • The Infant Jesus
  • The angel
  • The ox and the donkey
  • Cave or stable?
  • The Star of Bethlehem
  • The Wise Men

History

  • History of the nativity scene
  • Greccio, 1223
  • Saint Francis of Assisi
  • The oldest nativity scene
  • The saints and the nativity
  • The churches and the nativity
GGreccio, Christmas 1223The night Saint Francis set up the first nativity.Read the story →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us

In the United States

  • Where to see one in the US
  • Nativity events 2026–27
  • Living nativities
  • Organize a living nativity
  • US Christmas markets
  • Las Posadas
  • + Add your event (free)

Around the world

  • Where to see nativity scenes
  • In the Holy Land
  • In Italy
  • In France
  • The great shrines

Markets and fairs

  • Christmas markets in France
  • Markets around the world
  • Nativity fairs worldwide
NATIVITYNativity events 2026–27Living nativities, crèche festivals and Las Posadas, month by month.See the calendar →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us

Styles

  • All the styles
  • The Provençal crèche
  • The Neapolitan presepio
  • The mountain nativity

By country

  • All the traditions
  • Las Posadas and the parol
  • Mexico and Latin America
  • The Philippines
  • Louisiana
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Poland
  • Quebec
  • Germany and Austria

Santons of Provence

  • All about santons
  • The characters
  • Where to buy santons
  • Santon makers
  • Santon maker directory
  • Santon fairs
The Provençal nativitySantons, village and hills: the tradition of southern France.Discover →
GlossaryFAQVideosShare your nativityWrite to us
Menu
+ Add your eventShare your nativityJoin the newsletter
Set up

Start here

How to set up a nativity sceneWhen to set it upYour first nativityA nativity in a small spaceMistakes to avoidOutdoor nativity

Light it

LightingWiring and safetySky and backdrop

Your figures

Who’s who in the nativityFigure sizesCare and storageFixing an old setThe family nativityThe church nativity
Make

Getting started

The complete guideA nativity on a budgetOutdoor nativityThe base and structurePerspective and depth

Figures

Painting figuresMaking your own figures

Landscape

Ground and terrainRivers and streamsThe bridgeThe fountainMoss and greeneryTrees and olive treesSnow

The village

The stableVillage housesRoofs and tilesThe stone wallStairs and lanesWell and millPatina and aging
Kids

For children

Explaining it to childrenThe Christmas story for kidsFree coloring pagesPrintable nativityNativity craftsVideos

As a family

The family nativityPraying before the nativityWhen to put out Baby JesusA simple pageant

Share

Share your nativityThe nativity newsletter
Meaning

The story

The Nativity accountsGloria in excelsis DeoThe nativity and the ChurchPraying before the nativity

Who’s who

All the symbolsMaryJosephThe Infant JesusThe angelThe ox and the donkeyCave or stable?The Star of BethlehemThe Wise Men

History

History of the nativity sceneGreccio, 1223Saint Francis of AssisiThe oldest nativity sceneThe saints and the nativityThe churches and the nativity
Near you

In the United States

Where to see one in the USNativity events 2026–27Living nativitiesOrganize a living nativityUS Christmas marketsLas Posadas+ Add your event (free)

Around the world

Where to see nativity scenesIn the Holy LandIn ItalyIn FranceThe great shrines

Markets and fairs

Christmas markets in FranceMarkets around the worldNativity fairs worldwide
Traditions

Styles

All the stylesThe Provençal crècheThe Neapolitan presepioThe mountain nativity

By country

All the traditionsLas Posadas and the parolMexico and Latin AmericaThe PhilippinesLouisianaItalySpainPolandQuebecGermany and Austria

Santons of Provence

All about santonsThe charactersWhere to buy santonsSanton makersSanton maker directorySanton fairs
GlossaryFAQVideosWrite to us
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Home › Privacy Policy

PRIVACY

Privacy Policy

What this website collects, why, who else can see it, and how to get it back or have it deleted. Written plainly, and describing what the site actually does rather than what a template says it might.

Contents

  1. The short version
  2. Who we are
  3. What we collect
  4. Why we collect it
  5. Cookies and similar technologies
  6. Who else sees your data
  7. How long we keep it
  8. Your choices
  9. Regional rights
  10. Children

The short version

We collect what you type into a form, plus anonymous audience statistics through Google Analytics so we know which pages are actually read. There is no advertising pixel, no advertising profile built about you and no data broker. We do not sell or rent personal information. Videos on the site do not contact YouTube until you click one.

Who we are

This website is published by La Crèche de Noël LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States. For anything on this page, including a request to see or delete your data, write to [email protected].

What we collect

  1. The contact form

    Your name, email address, the description you pick for yourself, and your message.

  2. The newsletter

    Your email address and the fact that you ticked the consent box.

  3. Photo submissions

    The photographs you upload, your first name, your email address, and optionally the region, the style and a description of your nativity scene.

  4. Directory submissions

    For santon makers asking to be listed: workshop name, town, region or country, website, email, telephone if you give one, and what you make.

  5. Server and security logs

    Like every website, ours records IP addresses, browser type and timestamps. These are used to keep the site running and to block abuse, and they are not linked to form submissions.

  6. Audience statistics

    Google Analytics (GA4, measurement ID G-MJ5VP4JY4C) records which pages you visit, how long you stay, roughly where in the world you are, and whether you arrived from a search engine, a link or directly. It is not linked to anything you type into a form, and we never see your name or your email address in it.

We do not ask for, and have no use for, your date of birth, your postal address, your payment details or any special category of personal data.

Why we collect it

To answer you. To send the newsletter if you asked for it. To publish photographs you offered us, with the first name you gave. To check a directory entry before publishing it. To keep the site online and defend it against abuse. That is the complete list.

Cookies and similar technologies

This site sets no advertising cookies and builds no advertising profile. What is set:

Cookie Set by Purpose
_ga, _ga_… Google Analytics Tell a returning visit from a new one, so page counts are not inflated. Kept up to two years.
Form cookies Gravity Forms Remember a form you have partly filled in, so you do not lose it.
Security cookies Cloudflare Tell human visitors from automated traffic and block attacks.
Session cookies WordPress Only if you log in to the site as an editor. Ordinary readers never receive these.

Who else sees your data

  • Our web host. The database holding form submissions sits on our hosting provider’s servers.
  • Cloudflare, Inc. sits in front of the site as a content delivery network and security layer, and therefore sees visitor IP addresses.
  • Google LLC (Analytics). Audience statistics are processed by Google Analytics. Google receives your IP address in order to work out an approximate location; the address is not stored in our reports. What Google itself does with that data is governed by its own privacy policy.
  • Google LLC (Fonts). The site’s two typefaces, Playfair Display and Mulish, are served from Google Fonts. Your browser requests them directly from Google, which receives your IP address in the process. No cookie is set by this.
  • YouTube (Google LLC), on the videos page only, and only once you click a video. Until then no request is made to YouTube and no YouTube cookie exists. The player used is the youtube-nocookie variant.
  • Our email provider, which carries messages sent from the site to our mailbox.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s advertising.

How long we keep it

Form submissions are kept for up to 24 months after our last exchange with you, then deleted. Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe. Published photographs stay online until you ask us to remove them. Server logs are short-lived and rotated by our host and by Cloudflare.

Your choices

To stay out of the audience statistics entirely, install Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or block analytics cookies in your browser settings. Nothing on this site stops working if you do.

Every newsletter carries an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Beyond that, you can write to [email protected] at any time and ask us to send you a copy of what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. We do not require a reason, and we will not treat you differently for asking.

Regional rights

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. This is a United States company, but many of our readers are not in the United States, so we apply the same standard to everyone: you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, and you may object to processing. Where we send you a newsletter, the basis is your consent, which you may withdraw at any time. Where we reply to a message you sent us, the basis is our legitimate interest in answering it. You may also complain to your national data-protection authority.

If you are a California resident. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we have not done so in the preceding twelve months. You have the right to know what we hold, to have it deleted, to have it corrected, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. Use the email address above.

Children

This site is written for adults building nativity scenes, often alongside children. It is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us something, write to us and we will delete it.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS, sits behind Cloudflare, and its software is kept up to date. No website can promise perfect security, but we do not keep data we do not need, which is the most reliable protection there is.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, we will say so here and, for anyone subscribed to the newsletter, by email. The date below records the current version.

Last updated: August 19, 2026.

Who publishes this site, and the terms of use, are set out in the Terms of Use.

Terms of UsePublisher, copyright, governing lawContact usA question about your dataAboutWhat this site does

✦Praying before the nativityBlessing, welcoming, praying as a family+Add your eventFree listing on our map and calendar✦Nativity events near youThe 2026–27 calendar✦Printable coloring pagesFor kids, US Letter PDF
The Nativity Scene

thenativityscene.com

A free guide to the nativity scene for every family: setting it up, making it with your kids, understanding the story, and finding one near you.

[email protected]

Set up

  • How to set up a nativity scene
  • When to set it up
  • Your first nativity
  • A nativity in a small space
  • Lighting
  • Mistakes to avoid
  • Fixing an old set
  • Care and storage

Make

  • The complete guide
  • A nativity on a budget
  • Outdoor nativity
  • The stable
  • Ground and terrain
  • Sky and backdrop
  • Moss and greenery
  • Village houses
  • A stone wall
  • A bridge
  • Snow

Kids & family

  • Explaining it to children
  • The Christmas story
  • Coloring pages
  • Printable nativity
  • Nativity crafts
  • Videos
  • The family nativity
  • Praying before the nativity
  • Share your nativity

Meaning

  • The Nativity accounts
  • Nativity symbolism
  • The Wise Men
  • The Star of Bethlehem
  • Gloria in excelsis Deo
  • History of the nativity scene
  • Greccio, 1223
  • Glossary
  • FAQ

Near you

  • Where to see one in the US
  • Nativity events 2026–27
  • Living nativities
  • Organize a living nativity
  • US Christmas markets
  • Add your event
  • Around the world
  • The Holy Land
  • Markets around the world

Traditions

  • Nativity traditions
  • Las Posadas and the parol
  • Mexico and Latin America
  • The Philippines
  • Italy
  • The Neapolitan presepio
  • The Provençal crèche
  • All about santons
  • Santon makers
  • Santon fairs
  • Nativity associations
© 2026 The Nativity Scene · thenativityscene.com — an independent guide, the English edition of La Crèche de Noël.About · Terms of Use · Privacy
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