Nativity

Tonight we took Bug-a-Boo to his first live nativity scene. I had grand pictures in my mind. A few years ago hubby and I attended a live nativity scene called “Bethlehem Marketplace” that really made us think. It was so popular that you had to take a number and wait in the sanctuary of the church for your turn to go through. While you waited a live band and choral ensemble led everyone in carols. Between carols, they would call out the numbers for the next group to go through the several tents they had set up outdoors as the large marketplace set up like Bethlehem would have been. There were people selling there wares on the streets. There were animals everywhere. There was lots of noise and commotion of families being reunited and just the sounds of a busy town. Tucked out of the way was the nativity, so calm in the midst of the craziness that it would have been easy to walk by it without even noticing. That was the point – that in the craziness of the season, we need to take time to intentionally remember that this is a celebration of Jesus’s birthday.

So tonight when I heard about a local live nativity, I was eager to take Bug-a-Boo, remembering the concrete picture that Bethlehem Marketplace was for me and hoping that this evening would be the same for him. I am not sure what exactly I was expecting. I knew that it would not be as elaborate as the one I previously described. Even so, I was surprised when we got there of the simplicity of the scene. It was well lit and the costumes of the characters were very well done. They had a sheep and one other animal – I’m not even sure what. Besides the characters, there were only a couple kids and a couple adults visiting, all gathered around the sheep. We pulled over to the side of the road and realized that we could see pretty much everything from there. Hubby had an appointment to get to, so we looked from the car and headed on. Even then though, it made me think. I realize that the baby wasn’t the real baby Jesus, but still, the animals attracted more attention that the baby did. Although we chose not to get out of the car at this particular nativity scene, I hope that this small reminder will help our fmaily to spend Christmas not caught up in the business, but remembering Jesus’s birth.