Church displays hundreds of nativity scenes in Winona, Minn.

WINONA, Minn. (KMSP) - A church in Winona, Minn. is giving birth to a new Christmas tradition by displaying hundreds of nativity scenes. The First Baptist Church is doing it to remind congregants about the real reason for the season.

“We’ve over-commercialized Christmas and I really hate that because everyone talks about the gifts and it’s really Christ-mas,” Pastor Dennis Hundson said. “Christ is in there you know, and people are getting farther away from that.”

Four years ago, Corrine Zierfus started collecting nativity scenes to display during the holidays at her church.  So far, she's gathered more than 300 different scenes of all shapes and sizes including some made out of gnomes, Russian dolls, and even Rubik’s cubes.

“They bring out the memories… my mom and dad always had the big one in the basement and it was always center,” Zierfus said.

The First Baptist Church hopes next year to have over 400 nativity scenes displayed. They said they may even have a live nativity to give church members a new experience.