Their wings may be missing, but the angels still seem to flutter blissfully over the Nativity scene as they did for the first time nearly 80 years ago at The Little Traveler on Third Street. The famous Geneva crèche is on display at the Geneva History Center Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. during the holiday season.

Curator Jessica McTague said this is the first time since the crèche was donated to the History Center in 1990 that all of the pieces are on display together.

"There were always pieces missing that were being restored," she said.

The crèche itself has had quite a journey over the years; one that is comparable to the journey embarked on by Joseph and Mary for the birth of their Son.

Kate Raftery opened The Little Traveler on Third Street after her in-home business selling imported goods became successful. While McTague says it's still a mystery exactly how the crèche pieces were acquired, it's believed they were purchased on a buying trip to Europe in the late 1920s. McTague says it's not certain whether the pieces were purchased together or separately or whether they were bought in France or Italy. The pieces date back to the 1700s.

A display ad published in The Geneva Republican confirms the crèche was first on display in 1930, described as "a beautiful old Sicilian Crèche." There are more than 40 figures, including the Holy Family, angels, shepherds, three magi, and a number of villagers celebrating the birth of the Christ child. The scene is set up in an intricately carved French provincial corner bed, whose origins remain unknown. The angels are suspended over the manger.

The Nativity was displayed every Christmas by subsequent owners, but ultimately ended up being stored in the basement of a home that flooded one year. Merritt King, the History Center's historian emeritus, rescued the floating pieces and in 1996 a fund drive to restore all of the figures brought in hundreds of dollars from supporters.

McTague said some of the figures' clothing is original, but deteriorating. It is all hand-sewn, and she said since much of the clothing was attached to the figures, they had to be carefully removed for restoration.

She said some of the mysteries she'd like to solve is the identity of the artist, or artists, who created the ceramic figures and also where in Europe the French provincial bed was purchased and by whom.

Margaret Philbrick grew up in Geneva and remembers visiting The Little Traveler each year as a holiday tradition to see the crèche.

"My first memory of seeing the Nativity scene was at about 6 years old," she recalled. "I remember looking at the faces. These faces, especially the angels, are very radiant; so striking, so beautiful.

"It's a marvel, it really is."

Philbrick decided to write a book about the crèche with her mother Sarah McGreevy, who painted the illustrations. "Back to the Manger: A Treasure Hunt for the Nativity," was published last year. In it, she details the journey of this memorable Nativity from its unknown European origins to its resting place at the Geneva History Center.

Philbrick tells how Raftery opened her home every Christmas Eve, inviting friends and neighbors in for cocoa and to admire the Nativity. Afterward, she said the group would travel down Third Street caroling and then attend the late night service at St. Mark's Church.

Once the two decided to collaborate on the book, Philbrick said they headed out to Geneva and took "tons of photographs" to help with the visuals. McGreevy put the pictures together and composited them using figures from her own Nativity, and a wooden set her daughter purchased in Bethlehem.

The original paintings for the book will be on display at the Geneva History Center during a book signing by the authors from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3. The authors will also sign copies of their book from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Little Traveler on Saturday, Dec. 18.