As the holiday season approaches, festive decorations slowly become a common appearance. Everyone always anticipates them: red-and-green Christmas lights, wreaths, and even beautifully decorated Nativity scenes featuring baby Jesus’s birth. Over the years, however, there have been many changes that have been made to the traditional scene. From extreme minimalism to celebrity recognition, the mystical nativity scenes have become much more… unique.

     While it isn’t new, the minimalist trend has spread to the holiday season. It isn’t inherently bad to want things to be clean and tidy, but it’s reached a pinnacle where the very traditional nativity scene has become unrecognizable. Nativity scenes are remembered by their symbols: Donkeys, shepherds, the barn, and the centerpiece – baby Jesus. As the minimalist trend has become more intense, instead of the characters we know and love, we have colorful balls, stained pieces of glass, and even wood blocks, sometimes with the characters’ names on them. 

     The trend of minimalist nativity scenes was first recognized on Twitter, as some accounts were baffled by the sight. While some were laughing at some of the ridiculous pieces, others were offended. One user on Twitter said, “We’ve Marie Kondo’d the birth of Christ,” alluding to Japanese consultant Marie Kondo, a famous figure who emphasizes minimalism.

     You might think this is it, but this is just the beginning. Going down a rabbit hole of modern nativity scenes, there have been alternative renditions, even adding characters that don’t fit in the story at all. During the birth of Christ, the same characters are always seen: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and the Angels.
In altered versions of the nativity scene, some may see celebrities like Elvis Presley and Batman attending the birth of Jesus Christ. Some may also include fictional characters like Star Trek characters, Frankenstein, Legos, and even the Simpsons. Many Christians find these inclusions offensive, adding humor and ridiculousness to the sacred and important image such as the birth of Christ.

     In conclusion, nobody’s saying you can’t deviate from tradition, Christmas decorations are essentially what people make it! Naturally, many people have a different idea when it comes to nativity scenes, but no one can tell you what you can and can’t display. No matter how you spend your Christmas, we all celebrate the same things!