Christmas, Without Baby Jesus

One of my fondest Christmas memories is that of our childhood nativity scene. Mom would take us kids to the local Woolworth department store around Christmas time every year to purchase a new manger piece for our nativity set. The anticipation of making the annual trip to the old $.05 and $.10 department store to pick out a new piece is something I will never forget. I still can take you to the exact spot in the store where all the manger scene items were displayed! Each piece costs about $0.35. One of the angels still has the original sticker on it! Some years we would buy additional sheep or maybe an angel. When all was said and done, we had 19 pieces, including a little glass mouse!

Back in those days, having a Christmas tree or lights was frowned upon by our church, so Mom would scotch tape miniature lights to the wall in a triangular shape of a tree and she would cover them with itchy Angel Hair. At the base of the display, she would place a table with all the pieces nicely laid out with lights all around each manger piece. It was quite a sight to see. It was absolutely beautiful! Mom always put her heart in all she did, including serving God. 

One year, Jesus was missing from the nativity set. We searched the house high and low to find baby Jesus, but he was no where to be found. Mom took advantage of this much troubling situation to teach us kids that without Jesus, you cannot really have Christmas.  Finally, after much searching, we found him and placed him in his little straw bed.  

Shortly before Mom died in 2003, she gave me the entire nativity set. That is probably one of the most meaningful things I own! We probably have less than $7.00 invested in the whole set, but I wouldn’t trade it for $1,000! At 45 years of age, it is one of my greatest treasures. In fact, I store the Angel Hair and manger pieces in the same cardboard boxes that Mom used to store them in. 

Now, we make it a family tradition to set up the same little manger scene and share memories of Mom!