Remembering Christmas Past

I grow nostalgic this time of year; perhaps it's because my birthday is in December. I like to think that time stands still sometimes; sometimes it does in my mind.

One of my fondest childhood memories was the year I turned six. I got two wonderful surprises that Christmas – and learned a valuable lesson. My birthday is a couple of weeks before Christmas, and that year Dad made a cradle for my dollies! I was also excited because I was in my first Christmas program at school. The first graders were going to sing Away In A Manger.
Christmastime was a time of change for our little school room. Each class was assigned an area to decorate for the Christmas program. The first and second graders made red and green chains from construction paper to hang around the room, while the older children made ropes of popcorn and cranberries to weave through the branches of the Christmas tree. But, there was a problem with the manger scene; there wasn’t a place to lay Baby Jesus. Our teacher was good at making do with whatever was on hand, but what were we going to use for baby Jesus to lie in while we first graders gathered around and sang to Him?
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to use a box, and put straw in it,” Mrs. Nell said.
“Maybe we won’t have to,” my sister blurted out. “Dad made a cradle for Jane’s birthday. Maybe she’ll let us have it.”
Suddenly I burst into tears and ran out of the room. Oh no! They want to take my birthday present. “I don’t want to be in your old program,” I yelled as I ran for home.
The telltale signs of crying was all over my face as I came in the door and headed to my room bypassing Mom and Dad’s questioning looks. I knew I couldn’t stay in there all night. I had to come out for dinner. I could say my head hurt, but that would be a lie. I knew I’d get in trouble for running out of school, but I had just gotten my little cradle. I had barely played with it; how could they take it away from me.
Just then my sister came home from school. I listened at the crack in the door as she told Mom and Dad what happened.
“You should have seen Jane at the practice, Dad, she ruined the whole program. Just because she didn’t want to let us use her new cradle. I told Mrs. Nell it would be better than a box with straw in it.”
There! It was out. Now I’d really get it. I decided I might as well go into the kitchen and get it over with. When Dad saw me quietly sneaking around the corner, he caught hold of my arm and gently pulled me onto his lap and held me tight. I started crying again.
“Now, there, there,” he said taking a big red handkerchief from his overalls and wiping the tears away. “It’s not what you think. Mrs. Nell doesn’t want to take your cradle away from you – she just wants you to loan it to Baby Jesus for the song.”
Then he told me that wonderful story of long ago.
“You know when Baby Jesus was born he didn’t have a little bed to sleep in - his parents were poor and there was no room for them anywhere in Bethlehem, except a stable. He was born where they kept cows and donkeys. So, they had to make do. They wrapped him up in cloths and laid him in the manger.”
I knew what that meant. We lived on a farm and had a barn. We kept the cows and horses there and sometimes it didn’t smell nice, and at Christmastime it was cold! I had watched Dad put hay in the mangers for our cows to eat. I thought about the nice warm bed I slept in every night and the smell of bread and cookies baking in the kitchen. Baby Jesus didn’t have that when He was born.
Dad continued the story, “And God sent angels to tell some shepherds out on the hillside that His Son had been born that night and to go find the baby. He gave them a star to follow and told them to look for a baby wrapped in cloths, laying in a manger. You see, that manger was a special sign to the shepherds; they would know which baby son was God’s, because no other baby in Bethlehem was laying in a manger that night - only Baby Jesus!”
Suddenly I felt ashamed because I hadn’t wanted to share. I had been selfish. I knew Baby Jesus was God’s gift to the world and He came to earth because He loved all of us so much. I wanted to show Jesus I was sorry about the way I acted and that I really loved Him too.
My six year old heart was repentant. “Daddy, I’m sorry. I guess I forgot what Christmas really means. Do you think Mrs. Nell will still let me be in the program? I want to give my cradle to Baby Jesus.”
Dad smiled broadly as he hugged me tight. “Well, you just tell her what you told me and I’m sure she’ll want you back!”
My heart overflowed with warm feelings that I didn’t wholly understand as we first graders gathered around and burst into song, Away in a manger, no crib for a bed because there lay baby Jesus wrapped in a blanket, warm and snug - in my little cradle/manger. Every Christmas when I hear Away in a Manger - I remember the Christmas I learned it’s true meaning!

Luke 6:30 Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it, and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.