Nativity & Such

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

(Just ignore that shepherd staging in the background and the blurry baby in the foreground.  You know that baby Jesus hasn't been born yet in the story, right?)

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

(Disregard that angel in the back.  She showed up a little early.)

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

(Mary's baby was so overjoyed to see her that he was bouncing up and down trying to leap into her lap before she had even dismounted from the rocking horse, er donkey.)

(I'm sure this is more accurate.)

(Mary & Joseph were thrilled to welcome their little bundle of joy.)

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

(Our shepherd could only find a miniature shepherds crook.  Forgive her, she's a novice.  And there was a minor disturbance when baby Jesus decided to run away into the angel's arms.  Joseph had to rescue the babe.)

(The angel had a little trouble knowing who she was supposed to be talking to, apparently.)

(But this family seemed delighted by her attention, nonetheless.)

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

(It looks as if the shepherd brought the angel along to see the baby Jesus.  Which made Joseph hide under his towel, er robes.)

(And that is where our nativity parts from the traditional story and goes in it's very own odd direction.  The swaddled baby was a little boisterous for a newborn and kept trying to de-swaddle herself.)

(And all the other actors did their very best to wrap her up again.)

(Which was highly ineffective and only seemed to fuel her unnatural exuberance.)

(She even managed to somehow climb right out of the manger and disappear for a bit.  Despite Joseph's kind and nurturing expression.)

(Inexplicably, the babe came back with a superhero cape.)

(Which was delightfully funny to the rest of the cast.)

(And unfortunately, their laughter only fueled her antics.)

(It was at this point that we decided it was hopeless to push forward with the wiseman part of the story.)

(So we just enjoyed the laughter and called it a nativity success.  Our version of success, anyway.)

(Laughter is better than tears in these circumstances.)

(But I do hope that this is the one and only time we have to manage our nativity play with a superhero standing in as baby Jesus.  That's a little hard to reconcile.)

Later in the evening, we opened a gift.  We changed the way we do sibling gifts this year.  Instead of each child getting a small gift for everyone else, we drew names so they could give a larger gift to just one sibling.  The older kids always buy these presents with their own money, the younger ones get a little help from us.  And instead of letting them choose a present to open from among the ones under the tree, we just opened sibling gifts.  I love how it helped to spotlight their excitement about giving.  The givers in these photos look way more excited than the recipients.  I love that!

We nearly forgot to set out cookies for Santa.  Good thing R was around to keep us all on track.

And we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  And sent the kids to bed a little early after they had sufficiently checked Norad for Santa's whereabouts.  Then Shaggy and I dutifully helped Santa finish all his preparations and made sure all was in order before going to bed.  Such excitement was alive in our home.  Merry almost Christmas!