Tonight David's Dad came through town and took us to dinner at a fish camp. There are always plenty of goats, ducks, and chickens wandering around to delight the kids, but tonight there was an added attraction - just outside the parking lot in the field next to the restaurant a group was performing the nativity every half hour. After we ate, we huddled in the cold next to the makeshift stable and watched the very first Christmas take place. At least, what Faith saw was the actual first nativity. Even though we've had many conversations about real v. not real (i.e. the young woman dressed up as Ariel at Disneyworld is a real person, but she is only pretending to be Ariel, the Little Mermaid) there is still some misunderstanding. This evening Faith asked all of the following questions and then some:
Where is the bright star?
Why aren't the angels flying?
IS THAT JESUS!!!!????
Where is the inn that had no room?
Where are the wise men? (That question came up about 10 times because the wise men were not part of this production)
When Faith came into the room the other day dressed in her green fairy outfit and I said, "Hey, Tinkerbell!" She said, "I'm not Tinkerbell. I'm just a person dressed up in a costume LIKE Tinkerbell." So she has this level of understanding, yet tonight she sincerely believed that the baby doll Joseph was showing the shepherds might be Christ himself. It really confused her when we saw one of the angels walking through the parking lot after the show. "How is that angel walking right next to us?" She asked. It is kind of funny and kind of inspiring, really.
We were a little late to the show and as we walked up, the beautiful song
"Labor of Love" was playing over the loud speaker and as Joseph carefully arranged the hay in the manger to make a bed for the baby it really struck me how humble a beginning this was and is. How tender and mild, the moment in which our history turned.
