CHRISTMAS

Tips

The Christmas crib is traditionally built by the whole family on Saint Barbe's Day, and stays up until Candlemas. There are hundreds of ways of making it but here are a few ideas :

The background : paint a starry sky on a piece of cardboard.

Hills and cliffs : cork is ideal for the cliffs, cardboard for the stones.

Rivers, lakes : Rather than foil, use foam, sand and pebbles, covered with a piece of glass, and hide the edges in the decor; alternatively, stick down strips of paper coloured with different shades of blue so that they are overlapping one other, draw waves with a glue stick and sprinkle sand over it.

Trees : For a realistic effect, use sprigs of thyme and cypress branches next to the ruins. Gorse dipped in glue and sprinkled with green sawdust makes good bushes. Add sprigs of ivy sprinkled with sawdust for pine trees, and straw for haystacks.

Fields : Cover the "ground" with glue and sprinkle with grated cork or even earth. Do several layers for added thickness, then run a comb across it to create furrows. One last important tip: all the figurines must be facing Baby Jesus.