Local Nativity Set a Story of Tradition and Pride

The wooden Nativity set sitting under the Christmas tree at the Bratcher house in Romeoville tells more than the story of the birth of Christ — it’s a story of family tradition and pride.

Teresa Bratcher made the Nativity scene by hand when she was just nine years old. Forty-one years later, it still holds a spot under the family Christmas tree and will one day have its own spot under her son’s tree.

In 1968, Bratcher attended a woodshop class in the Lawndale Park neighborhood of Chicago with her sister and her best friend. Using a pattern, Bratcher cut out and created her own Nativity scene.

“Going to the woodshop class was completely out of my spectrum,” Bratcher said. “I’m not the creative type at all. I’m actually pretty klutzy.”

Yet, the Nativity scene she created quickly found a place under her parents' Christmas tree, where Bratcher enjoyed it with her family for years.

Then, in 1980, Bratcher married her husband. Five years later, Bratcher’s mother gave her the Nativity set to put under her own family’s Christmas tree.

“It was at that point that I decided we should keep passing the set down,” Bratcher said. While she has two children, son Sean has already expressed an interest in his mother’s creation. 

A sophomore at Joliet Junior College, Sean is a member of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship organization, which  hosted a table at Joliet Junior College’s fourth annual Multicultural Holiday Celebration earlier this month. 

The annual event serves as a way for students to learn about the beliefs and holiday traditions of their peers. To display the holiday beliefs of the club members, Sean brought the Nativity scene made by his mother and proudly placed it on the table as a representation of Christian beliefs.

“We were asked to bring decorations of what Christmas means to us, to show what we believe,” Sean said. “I knew I had to bring the Nativity set.”

Nativity sets are common in Christian families as a depiction of the birth of Jesus, as told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Bratches' set includes a wooden stable, as well as figurines of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, an angel and animals. 

Bratcher said the Nativity set has remained pretty much the same as she first made it 41 years ago. Her husband did install a bulb one year to better light the scene, and has occasionally replaced the light over the years. 

“We started taking our kids to church when they were just babies,” Bratcher said. “They were raised with the Christmas story.”

One day, Bratcher’s grandchildren will be raised with the Christmas story as well.

“I’ll get the Nativity scene and have it under my tree when I’m married,” Sean said.