Why yes, I DO have an elephant in my nativity set

My husband and I bought a Fontanini Nativity Set for our first Christmas.  

I was already pregnant by then and mostly we liked it because the figures were unbreakable.  They were very popular at the time and you could find them in every Hallmark store.  

They are not as available anymore though you see them here and there.  What I grew to like about them was all the unusual characters you could buy.  Including women and girls.  And every character has a story.  And animals.  Every year we would buy one or two figures.  

As you can imagine, 24 years later, I have quite a collection.  I need two tables to set them all up

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One year  we saw this elephant.  

I fell in love with the elephant.  It was $30.00.  This was when I got paid barely the salary of a seminary graduate and my husband took care of our young children.  $30 dollars for a nativity figure was out of the question.  I reluctantly put the elephant I had been longingly stroking back on the shelf.

No doubt you've figured out the end of the story.  That Christmas eve, that was the gift my husband had bought me.

It is surely my favorite.