Our Nativity

For years I wanted a special Nativity. I could see it in my mind and heart but just never could actually find it. Oh, we've had several over the years that found their way to other homes but never the one I envisioned.
A few years ago I read Jan Karon's Shepherds Abiding from the Mitford series and all the talk of the Nativity Father Tim was restoring for Cynthia, his wife, (read it! the whole series is great!) just awakened my "dream" Nativity.
One day a couple of years ago I was out and about and running low on time, I decided to quickly run in a Family Christian Bookstore to pick up a few small gifts. Actually I really just wanted to go on home but something or Someone was "tugging" on me so I went inside. As I entered the door my eyes quickly went to the right and there it was! "My dream Nativity"!
I practically ran to it and could hardly believe my eyes. I didn't see another like it and found a sales clerk, only to discover that was the very last one...the VERY LAST one! He packed it ever so carefully for me and I brought it home and immediately set it out.
This isn't a very good picture and one day I'll get a better one but here is some of it. It's on the sofa table at the front window in our livingroom. I have tiny white lights around it hidden by fresh pine and cedar. The first year I put it up, it came down with all the other Christmas decorations but for some reason last year I left it out...all year.
Had a preacher long ago who said that we should leave something "Christmas" out all through the year to remind us of the Spirit of Christmas...the true meaning. You know, like Ebeneezer Scrooge,
who promised to keep the spirit of Christmas in his heart all year and according to Dickens, he did!
So our nativity no longer gets put away but stays in a place of honor all year through. It reminds me of God's unconditonal love for all mankind and that I should aspire to show that kind of love to all who come across my path...and especially to my family, who sometimes, unfortunately see the worst of me but are also growing in that unconditonal love.
We all need to be reminded.
Well then, what part of Christmas will you leave out?