Community Corner
Local Nativity Scene a Passion Born in Italy
Some of the figures in the scene are more than 70 years old.
On a pool table, taking up a significant chunk of a room in the O'Brien household, is a nativity scene 30 years in the making.
A mountain ridge, made of craft paper and covered in spray paint and flour-based snow, wraps around a village. Within a man fishes in a pond, complete with real flowing water. Another man sleeps on a stone bridge, while Mary and Joseph wait in a mountain cave for baby Jesus.
In Valeria O'Brien's hometown of Calabria, Italy, nativity scenes are a larger part of Christmas decorations than Christmas trees. She grew up with nativity, learning from her father and brothers, and when she moved to the United States as teenager, she brought that passion with her.
"It's something that takes me back in time," Valeria said.
Since Valeria and her husband Stephen O'Brien began crafting the nativity, it has grown each year. Today they live on Pilgrim Road in Braintree, and the scene takes a full day to put together, typically right after Thanksgiving. It stays up through the New Year, so that house guests and the O'Brien's grandchildren can enjoy it.
All of the figures in the scene are from Italy, and some are 70 or more years old.
"The toughest part is the mountains," Stephen said.
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