Santa Fe, New Mexico 2019
"Land of Enchanted Nativities"

Our second trip to Santa Fe was a huge success.  Little did we know it would be our last meeting before the pandemic!  

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Author, shop owner and collector of all things South West Nativity, Susan Topp Weber led a packed house of 250 guestat the Historic La Fonda Hotel in Old Santa Fe.  Charlie Carrillo (Grandfather of the South Western format) was a featured speaker, as was the Mayor of Belen, New Mexico,  Charlie Noblin, Jr., who summarized his fight to keep the nativity display in the central part of his city, citing: "It's who we are as a city."  

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Two other major highlights of the event were the trips.  We visited in the Jemez Puebla and witnessed a powwow first hand, including sitting down with families in their homes and partaking of the fabulous customs of the event.  The other trips we took were to some of the friends of Creche and collectors of nativities (Nacimentos - Spanish).  Some of these collections have been featured on our Website and Facebook pages, but can not express the magnificent grace and beauty we witnessed first hand.  A third trip was to the Gerriad Museum to see their spectacular nativity displays.  Yet anther trip was a walking tour of the state house to see how the state conducts it's business, and also to see how the nativity culture is deeply wrapped in the traditions of the state of New Mexico.

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An enormous nativity auction (silent bidding) featured some very unique sets - perhaps none more spectacular than a hand-made set by Judy Klein of Texas.   Judy crafted an old scrabble game into a one-of-a-kind nativity!  

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The banquet was a huge hit, as always.  There's nothing like sitting down with collectors from across the United States and Canada to talk about life and especially those unique nativities we've seen and collected..  

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Great job once again to Susan Topp Weber.  

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