Nativity Set

Before I was married, I had a nice collection of Nativity Sets that I would pull out every year at Christmas and put all over my apartment. I loved looking at them and I especially loved the ones that I picked up on my travels as they all portrayed the birth of Christ as they saw it in their own individual cultures. The one from Chile in a hollowed out gourd with cactus decorating the manger scene, the one from my sister in Paraguay that is made out of beautiful orange clay, the one from Mexico in a little white painted box with doors that open and close. Another sister gave me a beautiful stained glass scene that is very eye catching. I have many, but as I said in a previous post, most of my nice decorations are now put away for the future (if they have survived the curious hands that have found them!).

This morning when Stephen was getting dressed, he mentioned that as soon as he was done, he wanted to go back down and play with the, the, the, "Mommy, what's it called again?" I told him that some people call it a Manger Scene, some call it a creche, most people call it a Nativity Set. Stephen got all excited and said, "Oh! I like that one the best because I LOVE doing crafts!" I didn't quite get it at first, but then he repeated himself and I realized that he heard me say, "An activity Set." He loves crafts, so therefore, his favorite word for this group of people, animals, barn and Jesus is An Activity Set! Not wanting to laugh at him, I buried my face in the towel and had a good chuckle to myself.

I just love watching the boys play with these wooden toy sets that we have. Hearing them tell the story of the birth of Jesus from their perspectives is so precious. If you have little children, I hope you are taking the time to really listen to them tell their stories. I also wish that my kids would allow me to videotape them telling these stories so we can watch them when they're older. Unfortunately, they can hear the little beep of the camera from miles away and come running over to see what's on the video... which is NOTHING because the subject matter has just disappeared to stand beside me! Maybe these little scenes will be burned into my memory so that I can recall them without gadget-related aid in the future.