Day 19: The Nativity Scene

My son was baptized on the fourth Sunday of Advent.  How cool that it is the candle of joy that the baby has arrived!

With the fourth Sunday, all four candles are lit and ready for the big event.  Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem.  The shepherds have been informed, the three kings are on their way, and next week, we light the white Christ candle!  It sounds a lot like a Nativity scene.

Speaking of Nativity scenes......

I grew up in a Nativity scene house.  We had one that was made out of plaster of paris and I always tried to have Mary ride a sheep instead of a donkey.  It had all the stars of the show in it: Joseph and Mary, the baby Jesus in a manger, The shepherds, the animals, the angels, and all three magi were there.  I loved playing with it.

St. Francis was the first to come up with this in Italy.  He wanted the emphasis to be more on the birth of Jesus and less on the gift giving.  Nice to know this was a problem in the 1200s and humans have always been human. We try to do right, forget why we are doing it, and need reminders. His was a live Nativity with people and animals.  I have never participated in one of these, but I have been to see them and they are impressive.

In my house, I have a Santon set from France my mom sent me. This year I did not put it out.  I remember playing with the one I had growing up in the 70s.  The magi were all painted technicolor pink, purple, and blue.  This one from Provence is very nice and I don't need nor want kids throwing it around.  It's bad enough when the two year old gets a hold of the elf on the shelf and the older two start crying he killed the magic. 

To solve the problem, my mom sent my children a stuffed Nativity scene.  They can throw that Baby Jesus all around the playroom as much as they want.  They can make the baby cry and the sheep say "Baaaaa."  They are learning the story now for later in life.

About the story, I have bad news for people who only go to church once a year (my apologies to anyone who already knew all of this).

• The Magi actually don't get there during the manger scene.  They show up when Jesus is around two.  And no one knows how many were there.  They presented three gifts.  There could have been twenty guys following the star.
• It wasn't necessarily a stable.  The bible says "manger."  The feeding trough could have been in a cave-I got this from my good friend Carrie, who is a Presbyterian minister.
• The angels were more of an army making an announcement, not a church choir.  I don't see them singing, I see them saying, "Go or else!"
• No animals were mentioned either-but the manger implies something was eating out of it.

I don't want to be the Grinch that stole the Nativity, but I used to threaten to my mother that I was going to create two: 1) one that was dark and had a poor little baby in a manger and 2) one with a toddler in the front yard and men show up with gifts he doesn't understand.  I haven't done it yet. 

So why do we put it out if the whole thing isn't true to the Gospels? For the same reason St. Francis did it in the first place. A lot of what is represented in the scene, no matter how and when,  is a reminder to us of all that happened-why we do what we do.  There is a lot of room for creativity and assumption. When I lived in Spain, at Christmas they didn't just put up the Nativity scene-most families I spent time with created the whole city of Bethlehem. 

My mom has branched out a bit since that technicolor 70s Nativity scene.  Now she collects them. She has the one from France, but she has one from Peru, one from Mexico, one I bought in Spain, and various others from other stores that I can't begin to list.  Sometimes I think she needs to be on an intervention show about it. As for my sets, I am going to keep the stuffed Nativity scene out for a while, and keep the French one safe from little hands a few Advents longer. Maybe next year I'll order the Little People one if Fisher Prices still makes it.

I can't wait to see Joseph and Mary go for a ride in a fire truck.....