My parents' masterpiece

Over the years my parents have always decorated our home with Christmas symbols, including a large presepio, a Nativity display that my father created for us, the whole town of Bethlehem. They also set up a canopy with baby Jesus and two angels in the entrance of our house, something which I refer to as a masterpiece, because they put so much love, detail and attention to it. The above photos shows my parents next to it, back in the 1990s, and after my mother died in 2010, in their memory I painted the scene of both of them decorating it, a ritual they enjoyed doing every Christmas. Surrounding baby Jesus are pots of grown vetch, (gulbiena in Maltese) a seed that grows very white, as long as it is grown in the dark. It is usually planted in early December and watered every few days, until a few days before Christmas. It may look similar to alfalfa, but it’s used frequently by many families and churches for the Christmas season. 

A watercolor impression I did to remember my parents' masterpiece

In memory of my father every year I still build a small nativity with pape-mache and a few figurines, which in Maltese we call pasturi, including of course the main nativity characters. plus a few folks people and shepherds.

My small nativity, from 2 years ago, and which I will build again in a few days