The reason for the season...

Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Jennifer and Scott Spaulding volunteered to act out the roles of Mary and Joseph during a live nativity scene along with their daughter, Ava. While this wasn't the first time the couple had volunteered to portray the holy family, it was the first time they were able to include their child in the event.

"There's baby Jesus!"

Erik Russell grabbed his brother's arm as the four year old pointed out the small porcelain figure sitting on the table. While there were plenty of other things to look at within the display, the tiny baby seemed to captivate the youngster as his family walked among the other displays that evening.

To a point, Russell was perhaps a little too young to fully appreciate the importance the display represented -- the symbol of a child born more than 2,000 years ago.

Olivia Campbell is fascinated by one of the creche exhibits.

For three days last week, a team of dozens of volunteers showcased this sacred holiday tradition during the ninth annual Christmas Creche. Hosted at the Latter-day Saints stake center on South Haskett Street, the celebration sought to help people cherish the spirit of the season, according to event coordinator Tracey Yagues.

The nativity scene, or creche, represents one of the oldest Christmas traditions, organizers said. Each display featured private collections by local residents who loan them to the church for others to see and enjoy.

A non-denominational event, the event drew nearly 1,600 people. While most typically come from the Mountain Home area each year, the creche tends to draw others from communities in the Treasure Valley as well as the Magic Valley.

Members of the Mountain Home Stake Youth Choir and children from the Mountain Home Music School raise their voices in song during a concert Thursday evening.

Beth Dickinson and her daughter, Olivia, were among the first to visit the creche as the doors opened to the public Thursday evening.

"We're getting into the Christmas spirit," Dickinson said.

Nearby, Caleb and Valerie Montero were admiring several other displays. It was the first time the family had been to the creche.

"We'd heard about it from some people we knew," said Caleb Montero. "We knew about the music, but we didn't realize they would have all these Nativity sets."

As he looked at all the creche displays that came from different countries around the world, Montero admitted they served as a reminder that Christ is the savior of all people.

"It's a great way to start the Christmas season," he added.

The Marlowe family had moved to Mountain Home just a week before the creche began.

"It sounded like a nice way to celebrate the Christmas season," Eliza Marlowe said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Her daughter, Olivia, walked to the front of the chapel wanting to show her parents which display was her favorite -- a creche featuring more than a dozen individual figures.

"I like it because it looks pretty," she said.

"I love all the different cultures" on display, added Steve Green, whose family arrived in Mountain Home last January.

The creche was originally held at the former stake at the corner of 12th North and 7th East streets. The church moved the event to the stake center four years ago to take advantage of the larger facility.

The move allowed organizers to better accommodate the 800 creches they received this year -- about 200 more than went on display during the 2012 event. Previously, the nativity scenes and other depictions of Christ's birth filled every available room at the former stake facility.

While some of this year's creche displays took up quite a bit of space, some Nativity scenes were almost overlooked due to their diminutive size. One from Mexico, for example, comfortably fit within the confines of a walnut shell.

It took the team of volunteers nearly a week to collect, inventory, catalog and put all the scenes on display, according to Yagues.

"It's been a lot of 15-hour days, but it's been worth it," she said.

But the creche wasn't limited to static displays. Each day, people like Jennifer and Scott Spaulding volunteered to act out the roles of Mary and Joseph during a live nativity scene.

"This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions -- the creche," Jennifer Spaulding said. "It's a good way to start the Christmas season and to remember what's important in our lives."

"I like that it brings the community together," Scott Spaulding said.

Typically, the Christ child featured in the live display is represented by a doll to pass the rigid requirement of "no crying he makes" -- a reference to Biblical verses regarding his birth. However, the couple broke from that tradition by including their daughter, Ava, in the live Nativity scene.

"We had done this in the past, but this was the first time that we had an actual baby to hold," Jennifer Spaulding said.

Music remained another integral part of this year's creche with a series of performances all three days featuring local musicians, soloists and school groups.

Sheri Freer started the music program Thursday evening with various piano compositions before the Mountain Home Stake Adult Choir raised their voices in song. The evening's entertainment concluded with selections by the Mountain Home Stake Youth Choir and children from the Mountain Home Music School.

As the music continued, dozens of children were focused on other aspects of the creche display. Each of them held onto a piece of paper featuring photographs of selected displays. Participating in a type of scavenger hunt, the youngsters scoured the stake trying to locate all of these pictures.

To a point, it was their own way of discovering the reason for the season.