Playmobil Nativity

I went to the toy store on Saturday because I signed up for the American Express's Small Business Saturday. If you signed up online and visited a local small business and charged at least $25 on your credit card, then American Express gives you a $25 credit on your next statement. Kara and I did this last year. We visited the toy store together and picked up a few games for the children. This Saturday I went alone. That was probably a mistake.

When I entered the toy store, there at the front there was a display of Christmas advent calendars and nativity sets. There were some Lego products with Santa themes and a Playmobil nativity set. I love Playmobil products. Two years ago for Christmas Kara purchased some Playmobil knight sets. The children play with them a little, but they are much bigger Lego fans. *sigh* Not that the two products are the same. They aren't. Lego is a building toy. Playmobil is small figures and elaborate sets that encourage imaginative play. (Both companies are based in Germany as is my favorite puzzle company. What is the signficance of that? I'm going to think more on this.)

Anyway, the point of this post is that I purchased the children a Playmobil nativity set. It's quite elaborate. There was the usual Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherd, angel, three sheep, an oxe, a donkey. (I love Playmobil animals!), a manger and a stable. Then there were some less common items like two birds, a mouse, a stable light, a cooking pot, a campfire, a wood pile, and--my favorite--an axe. Joseph was a carpenter, so maybe the axe was part of his gear?


Playmobil sets require a little bit of assembling when you first get them. Bentley and I put together the manger. We had to redo parts of it a few times, but we eventually got it right. Viva meanwhile was putting the clothes on the figures without looking at the directions. This annoyed Bentley (and me a little, too), but she has a good eye for that kind of thing and did a great job. Her only "mistake" was putting the angel's halo on the shepherd and then tossing the shepherd's headband because she didn't need it.

The only real problem was when Bentley and Jake started fighting over the cooking pot chain. Bentley wanted to use it to put the pot over the campfire (like in the photo on the front of the box), but Jake was already using it on the oxe's horns and he would not give it up. Bentley had to wait until Jake was bored and left to get his hands on the chain.

If I had only purchased the nativity, my $25 credit would have meant I got the nativity for a great price. Unfortunately for my wallet, I also purchased the three kings set and some Ravensburger Christmas puzzles. The toy store had the Christmas ornament ball puzzles that I have looked at online for years. I've never found them in stock with good shipping, so when I saw them at the toy store, I was excited. I also purchased a 100 piece Christmas puzzle to do with the children. Bentley took one look at it and asked why I bought a girl puzzle. Huh?! The puzzle has a flock of angels decorating a tree and baking cookies. Do angels make it a girl puzzle? It looked more fun to put together than the Santa puzzle, but maybe I chose wrong. There were not any Christmas-themed dinosaur puzzles. Besides, Viva's a girl. She likes girl puzzles.