Crafting Gene?

When I talk to other crafters, most of them talk about what they have learned from their mothers, grandmothers, aunts or other female role models. I believe I have inherited my crafting skills, (as simple as they may be), from my Dad. He was always making something. During the Christmas holidays, we'd drive over to the Baylands, the marsh areas around the San Francisco Bay, and pick cattails to add to our front door wreath. He'd spray paint them gold or silver depending on what spray paint he had on hand. We would gather tumble weeds and spray paint them white and that was the snowman for our front yard.
The one thing he crafted for our family, (it was just my Mom, Dad and I), was a nativity set or a creche. I was six years old when he made it, and he worked on it for months. He used my Barbie and Ken dolls as models. He used styrofoam as their bodies, and gold foil wrapping paper as their clothes. He refurbished the set about twenty years ago, using the same type of gold foil wrapping paper. We carefully wrap this set up every year.

I have set up all of our nativity sets on the sideboard in our living room. The nativity sets have a special place in our home.

Especially the one that my Dad made for our family!

Chris