Putting Up the "Nacimiento"

 As I wrote in the last post, I still had to put up the elaborate "nacimiento" (Nativity scene) around the tree.  It took a lot of shopping at market stalls and stores to get everything that I needed.

Before I started the "nacimiento", the skinny Christmas tree needed more ornaments.  I went to Christmas stalls at the nearest market to me in Colonia del Valle and to the much larger Jamaica Market.  I found small glass ornaments (they are called "esferas" or spheres) that were manufactured in the towns of Chignahuapan, Puebla, and Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, the two places that make most of the Christmas ornaments made in Mexico.

While staying at Alejandro's family house, I went to a nearby fabric store, and bought two meters of green felt.  I placed that around the tree, and at the back I put books under the felt to create the illusion of hills.

 I needed to create a river since among my figures I have a bridge and a fisherman.  Alejandro suggested that I buy some blue cellophane.  I bought some at a nearby stationery store.  I cut out a shape for a river, and I made it more realistic by putting aluminum foil under it.  I needed some little stones and some moss to make the river bank look natural.  I asked at a Christmas stall by the market near Alejandro's house where I could find stones.  The fellow asked me to wait while he went into the market building.  After a few minutes he returned with a young guy who was carrying a bucket full of stones.  I bought them all.  In the Colonia del Valle market a vendor was selling bundles of moss.  So, I had enough to naturalize not just the river, but the entire "nacimiento".

I then started putting out all the other figures in my collection.  When they were all set in place, there were still some bare areas on the hillsides.

So, I made another trip to the Jamaica Market and the one in Colonia del Valle, and I bought some more houses.  I also had blue cellophane left, so I made a waterfall coming down from the hill.  After a couple of nights of putting it all together, I was satisfied.  Here is the finished product...