Day # 4 of advent...
Keeping the Christmas story central in Christmas...believe me, we have a lot of wonderful things going on during Christmas! Today, John and his dad got the porch at our house decorated. This is a first for us--decorating the outside of the house with anything more than luminaries. Grandpa Charles would approve of the job they did! (lots of lights)
Inside, we have my favorite Christmas decoration--our moving nativity. Mary and Joseph have their residence on one side of the living room while Bethlehem is on the other side of our living room complete with shepherds on a hillside.
About 10 days before Christmas Mary and Joseph have a soldier standing outside of their house and a tiny note attached to their door telling them they must go to Bethlehem to be taxed.
They have a donkey and a bedroll ready to go and they begin their journey across the living room to Bethlehem.
We have wise men on the other side of the living room that begin their journey too and arrive after Christmas.
On Christmas morning baby Jesus is in his place and all is well. A star burns over the stable and the shepherds are hovering around the baby and his parents. I love the whole thing.
During the ten days Mary and Joseph move during the night and are in a new place each morning. Each year a new person or thing shows up as a gift for the pocket calendar and makes our nativity scene just a little better for next year. It might be a palm tree, flickering campfires for the shepherds, or a new tradesperson for the city of Bethlehem. The whole nativity is a hodgepodge of homemade, Fontanini, my grandmother's sheep from her nativity set or Dollar Tree goodies but that's what makes it uniquely ours. Each part of it has a special memory and place in our lives.
John begins fretting if they don't move fast enough or don't get going as soon as they get their notice. I stay content knowing that the Christmas story is being carried out right in our living room and we're keeping it in front of the children each day. In front of mom too, when it's busy it's good to go into the living room and look at the whole scene and remember what all the celebrating is really about!
Keeping the Christmas story central in Christmas...believe me, we have a lot of wonderful things going on during Christmas! Today, John and his dad got the porch at our house decorated. This is a first for us--decorating the outside of the house with anything more than luminaries. Grandpa Charles would approve of the job they did! (lots of lights)
Inside, we have my favorite Christmas decoration--our moving nativity. Mary and Joseph have their residence on one side of the living room while Bethlehem is on the other side of our living room complete with shepherds on a hillside.
About 10 days before Christmas Mary and Joseph have a soldier standing outside of their house and a tiny note attached to their door telling them they must go to Bethlehem to be taxed.
They have a donkey and a bedroll ready to go and they begin their journey across the living room to Bethlehem.
We have wise men on the other side of the living room that begin their journey too and arrive after Christmas.
On Christmas morning baby Jesus is in his place and all is well. A star burns over the stable and the shepherds are hovering around the baby and his parents. I love the whole thing.
During the ten days Mary and Joseph move during the night and are in a new place each morning. Each year a new person or thing shows up as a gift for the pocket calendar and makes our nativity scene just a little better for next year. It might be a palm tree, flickering campfires for the shepherds, or a new tradesperson for the city of Bethlehem. The whole nativity is a hodgepodge of homemade, Fontanini, my grandmother's sheep from her nativity set or Dollar Tree goodies but that's what makes it uniquely ours. Each part of it has a special memory and place in our lives.
John begins fretting if they don't move fast enough or don't get going as soon as they get their notice. I stay content knowing that the Christmas story is being carried out right in our living room and we're keeping it in front of the children each day. In front of mom too, when it's busy it's good to go into the living room and look at the whole scene and remember what all the celebrating is really about!
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