Linus, circa 2012

Last year I bought the Charlie Brown Nativity on post-holiday clearance to add it to my Nativity collection. Since we took it out of the box the other day, Robbie has played with it quite a bit.

At first, I got all warm and fuzzy, watching him spend so much time with it, recalling Linus's monologue about the true meaning of Christmas:

As Robbie was playing with the figures, I noticed he'd dropped Linus's staff. I handed it to him, telling him not to lose it, that a shepherd needs his staff.

A few minutes later I heard him say in a very gruff voice,

"Listen! I've got a staff & I'm not afraid to use it."

Christmas reprise: And a little child shall lead them

One of my favorite Christmas stories...

Did anyone notice anything unusual about the photo of the Fontanini Nativity in the entry I made on Tuesday? No? Look again:

See the #1 candle in the back of the stable? That's been a permanent fixture in this Nativity scene for the past five or six years. The story of how it got there is one of my favorite Christmas stories:

I had put out all the Christmas decorations and had them arranged just as I liked them. One day I walked past the Fontanini Nativity and saw the candle I'd used on the kids' first birthday cakes standing against the wall in the stable.

I took the candle out and put it in the junk drawer. A day or so later, it was back in the stable. Again, I put it in the junk drawer. The next day, I saw Annie putting it in the stable again.

"Annie! Stop messing with my Nativity," I said. "Get that candle out of there."

Setting her up to see how clever she was, I went on...

"That candle does not belong in the Nativity," I goaded, waiting for her to refute me with the reminder that Christmas is indeed the birthday of Jesus.

"Yes it does," she said as she took the bait.

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"I put that candle in the stable because Jesus is number one!"

And so every year, that polka-dotted candle takes its place in the stable behind the Baby Jesus to help us remember that whether the gifts are bought, the cookies are baked, the cards are sent, what really matters is that Jesus is, indeed, #1.

Originally posted on December 24, 2008.

Christmas reprise: O come let us adore Him

Another post from back when the only people who read my blog were my mother and amphibian lovers who accidentally found it via a Google search.

One of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas is unpacking and displaying my Nativity collection. It started when we got married and someone gave us the Fontanini collection Holy Family. Since then, we've added a new piece every year or two to that set.

And I've added other Nativities to the collection. I love having Nativity sets around as a reminder of the reason for the season. And because the collection gets packed away in January every year, I don't have to continually dust it, which is definitely a bonus.

Since this is my blog and I can do what I want to, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorites from the collection...

There's the Peruvian Nativity:

the George Carruth stone-carved Nativity from my friend Claire:

the fireplace Nativity screen I bought as a gift to myself for my 35th birthday:

the "Rita" Nativity, a collection handbuilt by artist Rita Jackson and given to me by Mike's grandmother:

though several of the pieces are broken and are waiting for me to fix them with Mighty Putty.

And of course the Fisher Price Nativity. Though in our version, Joseph has gone to the local watering hole with a shepherd and a couple of wise men, leaving Mary to look after the Savior of the World and a bunch of animals by herself:

There are more, but I didn't have the energy to unpack them all this year. I'll be scouring the after Christmas sales for my next favorite and maybe next year I'll put them all out.

What is your favorite part of Christmas decorating?

Originally posted December 23, 2008.

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #10 - And a little child shall lead them...

Did anyone notice anything unusual about the photo of the Fontanini Nativity in the entry I made yesterday? No? Look again:

See the #1 candle in the back of the stable? That's been a permanent fixture in this Nativity scene for the past five or six years. The story of how it got there is one of my favorite Christmas stories:

I had put out all the Christmas decorations and had them arranged just as I liked them. One day I walked past the Fontanini Nativity and saw the candle I'd used on the kids' first birthday cakes standing against the wall in the stable.

I took the candle out and put it in the junk drawer. A day or so later, it was back in the stable. Again, I put it in the junk drawer. The next day, I saw Annie putting it in the stable again.

"Annie! Stop messing with my Nativity," I said. "Get that candle out of there."

Setting her up to see how clever she was, I went on...

"That candle does not belong in the Nativity," I goaded, waiting for her to refute me with the reminder that Christmas is indeed the birthday of Jesus.

"Yes it does," she said as she took the bait.

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"I put that candle in the stable because Jesus is number one!"

And so every year, that polka-dotted candle takes its place in the stable behind the Baby Jesus to help us remember that whether the gifts are bought, the cookies are baked, the cards are sent, what really matters is that Jesus is, indeed, #1.

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #9 - O Come Let Us Adore Him!

One of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas is unpacking and displaying my Nativity collection. It started when we got married and someone gave us the Fontanini collection Holy Family. Since then, we've added a new piece every year or two to that set.

And I've added other Nativities to the collection. I love having Nativity sets around as a reminder of the reason for the season. And because the collection gets packed away in January every year, I don't have to continually dust it, which is definitely a bonus.

Since this is my blog and I can do what I want to, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorites from the collection...

There's the Peruvian Nativity:

the George Carruth stone-carved Nativity from my friend Claire:

the fireplace Nativity screen I bought as a gift to myself for my 35th birthday:

the "Rita" Nativity, a collection handbuilt by artist Rita Jackson and given to me by Mike's grandmother:

though several of the pieces are broken and are waiting for me to fix them with Mighty Putty.

And of course the Fisher Price Nativity. Though in our version, Joseph has gone to the local watering hole with a shepherd and a couple of wise men, leaving Mary to look after the Savior of the World and a bunch of animals by herself:

There are more, but I didn't have the energy to unpack them all this year. I'll be scouring the after Christmas sales for my next favorite and maybe next year I'll put them all out.

What is your favorite part of Christmas decorating?

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #6 -- Unrealistic Expectations

A few days ago, we were talking about what Charlie could take to school to sell for "stores," a mini economy activity (fueled by play money) that the kids love and the parents hate because generally the kids come home with a bunch of junk that you have to sneak into the garbage little by little so they don't realize that it's gone. At least that's what I've heard other parents do.

Anyway, I suggested to Charlie that we make candy cane reindeer for him to sell at stores. While he wasn't at all interested in that suggestion, Robbie was all over it and asked me several times when we could make the reindeer. So, today while I was out, I bought the necessary supplies (candy canes, pipe cleaners, red puffy balls and googly eyes), came home and told Robbie tonight was the night.

He was all set. We decided to make 24 candy cane reindeer -- one for each kid and teacher in his class. He was on nose duty. I was in charge of the googly eyes and the pipe cleaner antlers. Then he gave each set of antlers a re-twist until he had them just so. That's how our process went -- for about 5 reindeer. Then he said, "You can do the rest, Mom. I'm going to watch a show."

Hey, now wait a minute! What happened to our mother-son quality time? So I tried to convince him to stick around a bit longer.

"But Robbie, we have to finish them all so you can take them to your friends at school."

To which he replied, "Oh, you can take them in Mom. I'm not going to school."

*****************

We took the kids to a living Nativity last weekend. It was wet and freezing and a perfect night to stay inside. But the kids were bouncing off the walls and I decided we had to get out. Besides, the cold might freeze their joints a bit so they would be a little less bouncy, I reasoned.

So we drove to the ground of the hospital where the living Nativity was to take place. My eyes first fell on a huge white tent where the performance would take place and I muttered a genuine, "Thank you Jesus!" Inside, we were surprised (and pleased) to find free hot chocolate, popcorn and cookies, though I did have to remind the kids that concessions were not actually served at the birth of Jesus.

We took our seats -- another great surprise, as I thought we'd be standing -- and watched as the live camels and the choir got into place. The event started and Robbie came to sit on my lap.

"Look," I whispered. "There's Mary and Joseph. They have to stay in that barn because there's no room for them anywhere else. See the donkey with them?"

I began to feel all warm inside, not from hot chocolate, but from the joy of realizing that we were helping to shore up the kids' understanding that Christmas is not all about toys and wish lists, but is truly a celebration of Jesus' birth.

"Yeah, I see the donkey," said Robbie. "But where's Santa Claus?"