It’s hard to know what is more surprising about Susan White’s collection of Nativities: That she has 235 from many different states and several countries; Or, that each one is cataloged detailing where and how acquired.
White, who worked for 42 years in the library system, is serious about her wide-ranging collection of Nativities in all sizes and materials including one made with gourds from Asheville, N.C. and one made of horseshoe nails from out west. She has one with large figures with real lamb’s fleece on the sheep and she has some she keeps out in her home year-round.
Roughly half her collection will go on public display at Tate United Methodist Church December 21 for a special Christmas event running through December 28 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. each evening (closed on Christmas Day). The display is free to view but donations to support the Weekend Snack program for children who may not have adequate food in their homes are being accepted.
White said her Nativity collecting, which is accompanied by doll collecting and Peanuts/Snoopy merchandise collecting, began in 1988 with several Nativities from her mother’s estate.
“I always liked them as a little girl,” said White. She described her Nativity collection as “If I see something I like, I get it.” She and her husband Brad have bought many of the Nativities while on vacations, including some from the Gatlinburg arts and crafts fair, some from a Christmas shop in Michigan and a surprising number from Arizona.
Her notes record one was bought at “a middle school sale.”
The prize of her collection is a Nativity bought at the Oberammergau Passion Play in 2010 that was hand-carved by a German not long before his death.
White said the Tate church she and Brad have attended for many years was looking for something special to do for the community this holiday and White mentioned her collection to Tate United Methodist Church Rev. Sonny Sellers and the idea was born.
Some young people in the church helped move the collection for the show and will set it up in the sanctuary under White’s watchful eye to make sure all the different pieces stay grouped properly.
The 100 Nativity display runs December 21-December 28 (closed on Christmas Day) 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Tate United Methodist Church is located at 5880 Hwy 53, Tate. See ad on page 2A.
