Blessed Advent, and Merry Christmas!  This is my icon that I posted here last year!  I hope you can zoom in on this icon to see the details ... it's tricky to photograph gold (as I have complained before) because the reflections are not easily controlled ... so I apologize for the amateur photography.  

This icon is based on prototypes from the 13th and 14th centuries.  There are two common types of this icon - in this one Mary is facing and touching the baby Jesus.  In the other type, she is facing away from him and contemplating what will become of this child.  I prefer this one.  The midwives are in the lower right hand corner, Joseph and the nameless figure (The Tempter?) are in the lower left corner, the three wise men approach from the left side and the many shepherds and their sheep are startled by the three angels appearing in the gold sky.  The texture of the sky is deliberately different than the texture of the ray of light and the area of the sky it comes from as it shines on the new born Jesus.

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ, or The Nativity.   This is one of two traditional views in the Incarnation icon - one view (my favorite for theological reasons) is where Mary is facing and holding the infant Jesus; the other view is where Mary is turned away from Jesus who is sleeping in the manger.  I like all of the figures in the icon, the shepherds, the angels, the midwives, the visitors from the East bearing gifts, and Joseph and the "strange character" talking with him.  COME AND SEE THE ICONS at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN during Advent 2011.  The exhibit will open with an official announcement - expected to be just before the first Sunday in Advent, 27 November 2011.