Sian from High in the Sky has invited us to share a Christmas story in the few weeks before Christmas, here is mine for this week.
Every year this little Christmas Nativity Scene brings treasured memories for me and laughter for my son.
The nativity scene belonged to my mother and was put out every Christmas throughout our childhood. You will see that the baby Jesus is wrapped in ‘swaddling clothes’ It is a piece of cloth my mother wrapped him in many years ago.
My younger brother insisted that the baby lay in his manger every day during advent whereas my very traditional Irish mother forbid it! The child wasn’t born until Christmas morning and so the manger was to be empty until then.
So, every day the baby was put in the manger by Gerard and every day he was taken out of the manger by mother, first he was in and then he was out, and so it continued all through advent for many years until he got so bashed that his arm fell off!!
My poor mother was heart broken and wrapped him up as you see him here.
When mum died the little crib came to me.
The story of the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes gets more outrageous with every telling and now that my son tells our visitors the story I suspect that by the end of the evening the baby has no limbs at all!
Merry Christmas Gerard…Miriam x
I posted this story on November 28th 2010 so apologies if you have seen it before but as I put the little nativity scene on my kitchen windowsill over the weekend I thought I would share it again.
Thanks Sian
I missed it back in 2010, as I was neither a blog reader or writer then, so I’m glad you shared it again today.
Hi Miriam!
In his swaddling blanket, no one is the wiser, huh? Your story reminds me of my friend Barb who does not let the wise men show up until the Epiphany. They start on the stairs, and every day get a little closer.
AND!!! Thank you for the Christmas card!!! Simply beautiful. Alas, have not done mine yet. At this rate, they will show up with the wise men! LOL!
xo, m & jb
Miriam, this is my Mum’s nativity set. Exactly the same one! Setting it out when I was little was always one of my greatest pleasures at Christmas. It will probably come to me one day. I think she bought it in Cornwall at least 50 years ago now. It’s so lovely to see photos..as I look at the pieces I can feel them in my hands. The baby Jesus fits so neatly into his crib.
What a lovely nativity scene! And such a great story to go with it.
What a lovely story and I’m delighted that it is being retold. We didn’t have the baby arriving until Christmas Day, Mary & Joseph journeyed until they arrived Christmas Eve and the Wise Men turned up on Jan 6th. The manger was often filled with other things to keep it company…
I’d been thinking about Baby Jesus in all the manger scenes long before Christmas morning just this week after a conversation during our discussion group at church. This story brought a smile to my face! We heard several such stories around the table on Thursday.
What a charming keepsake from your childhood. I’m surprised your brother hasn’t “fought” you for it!
What a lovely set and story!
It’s a lovely story :). Your figures look as if they may be the same vintage as ours. I am on your Mum’s side here – baby Jesus has to go into the stable very first thing on Christmas Day. (And the Wise Men start at the far end of the chest of drawers and gradually move closer until the 6th January!) Wishing you a very happy Christmastide …
What a great story. many years ago, I was explaining to my young daughter why Baby Jesus was not in the Nativity scene at church yet. That he would be placed there on Christmas Day because that was when he was born. She thought for a while and then said, “Oh, I get it. Santa brings him!”