The First Gift of Christmas

Just after Thanksgiving, we pulled out our Christmas decorations and borrowed a Christmas tree and lights.  One of the boys' favorite decorations in the past has been a rubber-like nativity set that sits under the Christmas tree.  It is pretty kid-friendly, so they are allowed to play with the pieces during the Christmas season.  They like to drive the figures around in their cars, acting as chauffeurs to and from the manger.  This year, when we unpacked the nativity set, Noah immediately gravitated to the small characters.  When all the decorating was complete, we thought we would set the nativity under the tree, but couldn't find the Baby Jesus anywhere.  So the search began.  At first Mommy just figured he would turn up somewhere as we tidied up.  But when everything was put in its place, we still couldn't find him. 

 

Over the next days, and weeks, we looked everywhere we could think of.  We all hoped we would find the Baby Jesus in a corner somewhere.  We looked under the rugs; pulled apart the couches and chairs in the living room, looking under cushions; checked and re-checked cabinets and bookshelves.  Mommy began to realize that perhaps Noah had hidden the Baby Jesus, or carried him off in his excitement and forgotten that he had done so.  We began to interrogate, "Noah, did you take the Baby Jesus?" "Yes."  Is he in the house?" "Yes."  As we recalled the evening we decorated, we remembered that Noah had gone to play outside just before dinner, and the questioning continued.  "Noah, did you take Baby Jesus outside?" "Yes."  "Did you put Baby Jesus in the dirt?"  "Yes."  We began to wonder if Noah remembered, or if he was just answering yes to everything.  "Noah, did you eat Baby Jesus?"  After all, he was a pretty small figurine.  "Yes."  Then the questions seemed pretty fruitless so we went out to the garden to dig.  Noah loves to dig, and he had been digging pretty intently that evening.  One afternoon all three boys and Mommy dug until they realized there was no way Noah could have buried Baby Jesus that deep on his own.

Digging for Baby Jesus

Mommy began to look online for patterns to make a new Baby Jesus so that there would be something in the manger on Christmas Day . . . though she secretly hoped and even believed that we would somehow find Jesus in time for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we had our traditional taco salad dinner.  We had invited Auntie Linda Braaten to join us, and she brought bread to share with our meal.  It needed to be re-heated in the oven, and when it was done, Mommy went to pull it out.  Instinctively, she usually reaches for hot pads from the stack on the shelf close to the oven.  But this time, her Christmas oven mitt, hanging on a hook nearby, caught her eye.  When she put her hand inside, she felt something in the thumb.  Immediately she knew it was the Baby Jesus.  Had Auntie Linda not joined us, we would not have used the oven, and would not have found the Baby Jesus that night.  Mommy tucked Baby Jesus "away in a manger" - a small gold box - and set him on the table on Christmas morning.  The boys were thrilled when Noah opened the first gift of Christmas this year, reminding us of the First Gift that God gave us on the very First Christmas.