St. Christopher's Church displays crèches from around the world

As part of Advent celebrations, St. Christopher's Church on Peaks Island hosted its "From All Around the World: The Joy of Crèches" event on the afternoon of Saturday, December 7. The open house for the entire community featured a display of more than 40 nativity scenes in the church from across the globe, as well as holiday refreshments and children's crafts in the community room.

"I have collected crèches for more than 50 years and thought, why don't we have a crèche event?" said Deb Chase, a resident of Peaks Island and Portland. She learned that another island resident, Judy Walsh, had 17 crèches she was willing to lend to the event and thought it would be a wonderful way to bring the community together.

Chase's nine crèches include one from Peru and one from Mexico. One is a miniature that is within a walnut shell. Walsh's crèches come from countries such a Bolivia and Kyrgystan.

Mary Anderson, who helps to coordinate many of St. Christopher's events, said "I just thought it would be a wonderful way to see their collections as well as remind people of the reason for the season."

Parishioner Chris Hoppin and his wife, Barbara, contributed crèches from Germany and Kenya.

"I thought it was a good idea to show the diversity of how the birth of Christ is displayed all around the world, and it will be fun to see all the different crèches from around the world," he said prior to the event.

After the event at St. Christopher's was the annual Peaks Island tree lighting. Parishioners will continue Advent celebrations on December 15 with their annual caroling followed by Wassail and food in the community room.