Handmade nativity sets the scene for Christmas

Evie Seidlitz knows people notice the homemade nativity scene in her Cornell front yard each Christmas season, because she says people comment on it quite often. Each character in the scene is made out of an upside-down tomato cage, with outfits sewn by Seidlitz. Photo by Julia Wolf

By Julia Wolf

It is no secret Evie Seidlitz enjoys sewing, so it should come as no surprise that the nativity scene in her Cornell front yard reflects that. Seidlitz set the handmade nativity out on display along Osborne Street for the past five years or so.

“They’re made out of upside-down tomato cages,” said Seidlitz.

She says one prong of the tomato cage goes to the head, while the other two are the arms. Seidlitz sewed all of the outfits for the scene and each year, sets the figures on top of a log, to keep them from blowing over.

She says she started making her own clothes in grade school, so she has sewn for a long time and enjoys it.

“I have a lot of material on-hand and it was fun working it out,” said Seidlitz.

Seidlitz originally got the pattern out of a magazine for a Santa and Mrs. Claus, and says that gave her an idea of what to do in order to make a full nativity set, tweaking the pattern as needed for each character. She says she figured it was something different and had the space for it in front of her house.

“It’s worked out really well and it’s simple to do,” said Seidlitz.

The last thing she added to the scene was a camel, cut out of plywood by her husband at the time. Seidlitz says the camel has been up for a number of years already, but this year, she was not able to put it out.

One time, Seidlitz was even on the receiving end of a prank, when her friends brought over deer antlers and put them on the camel.

“When they got all done, I opened the door,” said Seidlitz. “We got a chuckle out of it anyway.”

She says she knows a lot of people see the nativity scene and enjoy it, because she gets comments on it quite often.

“It makes me happy to see them enjoy it,” said Seidlitz.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="242"] Santa and Mrs. Claus inspired Evie Seidlitz to make a handmade nativity scene for her yard, after she found the pattern for the jolly couple in a magazine. Seidlitz tweaked the pattern as needed for each character and added plywood animals to the scene. Photo by Julia Wolf[/caption]