As a child, Diane McCue remembers watching with confusion as her mother set up the family's Christmas nativity creche - a large 20-something piece display, hand-crafted by her mother - in an odd place.

"She used to set it up in the fireplace, which as children we used to be very confused about because we thought, well, Santa Claus will step on that as he comes down the chimney," said McCue.

The creche survived each Christmas without being crushed by Santa and continued to be a part of McCue's and her mother's annual Christmas tradition, with McCue even bringing it to her mother's room for her final Christmases spent in adult care. This year, McCue will display the nativity scene for the first time since her mother's death four years ago.

It will be displayed as part of the Journey to Bethlehem, a display of the art of the nativity, 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at St. Matthias Church in East Lyme. The program is being put on by the Holy Martyrs Cluster parishes of St. Matthias, St. Agnes in Niantic and St. Paul in Waterford.

"I thought it would probably make her really happy if it were displayed because it was her pride and joy," said McCue.

For McCue and others donating their nativity scenes for the day, the program will be a celebration of the holy family and the Christmas season, and their family traditions.

That is true for Betty Cassidy, who is donating another hand-crafted scene made by her sister who took up pottery making as a young bride married to a Marine deployed in Vietnam. Cassidy's sister made a 15-piece scene for each of her siblings.

"There's every little angle and lamb you can imagine and we come from a large family. It's so personal and yet it was meaningful enough I thought it might appeal to other people that might have something hidden away," said Cassidy.

For some, creche collecting has become something of an accidental tradition in itself.

"Every year I just found one that I liked better and better and better," said Maggie Prokop, who estimates her collection to be around 20. "I kind of put this one and that one out and save a couple and put them out the next year and rotate them."

Her collection include a nativity scene of Joyce Byers carolers and one made entirely of denim.

Lucine Schiller, organizer of the event and fellow creche-collector, recalled a lunch with Prokop, where she admitted to having hidden two creches from her husband for two years.

"I said to her, 'Maggie, with all that you have? I've heard of women hiding dresses or shoes, but not hiding Jesus," said Schiller.

Another accidental collector, Jane Woodmansee is donating multiple creches to the nativity display, including one made in Haiti and crafted entirely from coconut shells, and another made from volcanic ash.

"I got my first one 40 years ago. I don't think of it as a collection. I get them when I like them and they grow to have meaning for me," said Woodmansee, including the fact that the creches have survived three children and family cats who would regularly curl up inside them.

The one made from volcanic ash is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Woodmansee said it became especially meaningful for her when a former pastor commented on it's spiritual symbolism.

"It proves that God takes something that's destructive and difficult and turns it into something good," said Woodmansee.

A total of 96 creches will be on display for the event, including the three large outdoor scenes used by each of the parishes and one made out of papier-mache by the children of St. Matthias.

For Schiller, who is donating eight of her own, the large response was a welcome shock for the first year of this program.

"I'm really just delighted with the number. I did not expect over 90, that's for sure," said Schiller. "It was very well received. I didn't have a clue as to what we'd get."

Schiller began collecting creches in October, but has had members hoping to donate their scene as recently as the first week of December. Unfortunately, she said, she had already given table assignments and had to turn last minute donations away.

"I had to say 'I'm sorry but there's no room in the inn,'" she joked.

One of the things Schiller says visitors will enjoy about the program is the variety in the creches, which come from all over the world. Its the variety in the scenes that first peaked Schiller's interest in the art of the nativity.

"I was just attracted to the whole notion of the variety that the faces and the figures take on. Based on the country of origin, they took on the features of that country. It's kind of like we all want Jesus to be ours," said Schiller.

J.HOPPER@THEDAY.COM

TWITTER: @JESSHOPPA