You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
December is upon us, all Christmassy and exciting, though the cats are carrying on pretty much as usual.
Admiring a little snow on the ground outside, perhaps, but otherwise pursuing their daily routines.
Though it's normally Choupette who's left to propose some fun adventures round the condo.
The improved crèche, or presepe, or nativity-show for 2025
Kristin has been acquiring bits and pieces of her ceremonial crèche since her years in Rome, and presently, 'elaborate' is the best word to describe it.
Described by Google's 'AI Overview', 'A presepe (or presepio) is the beloved Italian tradition of the Nativity scene, a detailed, artistic display of Jesus' birth, evolving from St. Francis of Assisi's first living scene in 1223 into elaborate, often miniature, Italian villages with figures of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and Wise Men, built with rich detail, craftsmanship, and sometimes incorporating everyday life, especially celebrated in Naples' San Gregorio Armeno street' [colloquially referred to as 'Christmas Alley' (see below)].
What's that scratching sound??
Whoa!
Oh, it's just Melvin.
This year, along with bushels of fishes and vegetables to accompany the semi-relevant holy figures, we have two innovations: first a pyramidical sort of structure, acquired at the antiques show in Eagle River (WI) and transported to Virginia by Kristin's sister Liz, and second, an oversize homemade replica of St Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples.
And here are some of the abundance of decades, including fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, amphorae, bread, a camel, a random head back in the grotto (originally intended to crown the Gennaro), even a dinosaur . . .
. . . there's even, it seems, a squid.
One recalls that that central cartful was acquired in Syracuse, Sicily, in 2012 -- the pièce de résistance of the collection.
The Neapolitan artisans at that time told us that they feared that their trade was dying out.
And some odds and ends of magi, shepherds, angels, etc., and the holy family crowning all.
Here's our St Gennaro (originally a fancy-dress female, with a face modified into a medieval bishop by Kristin's sister, the artistic Liz), a 4th century Bishop of Naples martyred by Diocletian's goons and subsquently the patron saint of Naples.
[Gennaro = St Januarius, whose blood liquifies from time to time in the Naples Cathedral,
especially on his September 19th Feast Days.]
A symmetrical presentation, heartfelt as it were.
A brief interlude
Kristin's presence is required in Nashville for a few days, from 8 December, to babysit for Little George whilst her daughter Emily attends a conference for work. We're at the Staybridge near the Charlottesville airport the night before her flight, since crossing the Blue Ridge from Staunton in the predawn hours would be reckless.
A nice two-room suite, briefly living the high life
Even with our own little kitchen, though we'll be right out of here in a few hours.
Dinner at the nearby Bonefish Grill, a worthy chain we're told, and very good.
Time to head for the airport and . . .
. . . to part our ways for a few days.
Meanwhile, in Kristin's absence, Choupette is testing out a few new cat toys.
In a profoundly hunting mode, and . . .
. . . a successful flying dive onto the prey.
Kristin will be home tomorrow, if the planes are flying again.
Back to the presepe
The crèche by night
The Harlequin chappie may be a bit of an afterthought.
Almost good enough to eat. Well, umm....
St Gennaro with the fixed stare.
During the celebrations of the miraculous liquefying holy blood, 'the blood usually liquefies'. The tradition holds that if it does not liquefy, disaster will befall Naples. In 2015, the blood in the vial appeared to liquify during a visit by Pope Francis, which was taken as a sign of the saint's favor of the pope. The blood did not liquify when Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2007. Just saying . . .
The specifically religious participants are up there at the top of the pyramid.
There's that squid again.
Kristin has also accumulated some Peruvian presepe di natale [belén navideño??].
They're fun but require some more careful scrutinizing to get the full effect.
Viewed from behind the show
The huge gildy star stuck in behind there was intended to be the basis for the whole display, but there's not room enough on the stage to highlight it without breaking someone's leg trying to slip by it.
Semi-magical shadow-work
Last views for Xmas 2025
Amazing handiwork, actually. Nearly all pieces are made by hand. Not the harlequin, though. And the Venetian gondola seahorses behind it all are just add-ons for artistic effect.
There, by the way, is the dinosaur (a stegosaurus, apparently).
This year's crèche will stay up throughout the holidays, but no one will be here to admire it.
We're soon off to New Mexico.
Still, life goes on.
Here's Kristin crèche-hunting in 'Christmas Alley' in Naples, October 2024.
This is San Gregorio Armeno street in Naples, just down from the San Lorenzo church off the Via dei Tribunali pedestrian thoroughfare.
And here's one of the neatest and most elaborate presepi one of us has ever seen.
It fills the ground floor of this house in Erice, the little mountain village at the northwest corner of Sicily, visited in December 2012.
A labor of love -- a dedicated young man was just opening his presepio and in succeeding days had his signs out front, inviting passersby in and explaining everything shyly but enthusiastically, free of charge.
The whole little village even had running water.
Next up: The Xmas road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico
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All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 16 January 2026.
