More than 200 people visited the display of Nativity sets at St. John in the Heights Lutheran Church in Jim Thorpe on Saturday afternoon. This is the ninth year the church has held the Indoor Nativity/Creche Display.

Visitors came from all over eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and even Ecuador, said church member Betty Ann McElhenney.A Nativity set collector as well, McElhenney said there were 600 sets on display, up from 541 last year. All of them are owned by members of the church or their families. Her collection took up one table and her daughter's collection encompassed two long tables.McElhenney first began collecting Nativity sets in 1958, when she bought it for her family. It was on display, along with others made of various shapes, sizes and mediums from ceramic and wood to metal and cloth. One is a tiny set made of metal figurines inside a red velvet bell from Italy. It was a gift from her granddaughter, McElhenney said.Why does she collect Nativity sets? To not collect them is more inconceivable to her than collecting them."Just the fact that everyone wants to portray the blessed event," McElhenney said.The collections amassed in the room included Nativity sets made of terra cotta, candle figures with wicks out the top of their heads, pewter, paper, loofah and straw, music boxes and Pysanky eggs. Some were Native American characters, others African-American and Eskimo.Anthony Marchitto, of East Hanover, New Jersey, near Manhattan, said his favorite was the one inside a coconut shell. He and his wife and son heard about the activities in Jim Thorpe in a magazine. The 35th annual Olde Time Christmas Festival was included in a current issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine as one of six family-friendly celebrations.A little closer to home, the Powell family from Pen Argyl came out to see the Nativity displays.Jackie Powell said they have a toy one at home for her two young daughters. Her youngest is enamored with them.Powell said 5-year-old Claudia Powell told her mother, "I love seeing the Nativities, because they make me so happy."At St. John's, she spied a little one with childlike figurines. It was her favorite one there, especially the little lamb sitting beside baby Jesus in the manger.The Nativities were on display both Saturday and Sunday.