The real meaning of Christmas

T’was the night before Christmas, God glanced over the earth.
He looked to and fro, all over it’s girth.
They missed it again, He said with a sigh,
a real heavy heart and a tear in His eye.
I gave them my Son, so they could be free.
My greatest gift to them, from me.
They traded me in for a man in red.
A little tree and a horse drawn sled.
How do I save them and make them see,
my love is complete and my grace is free.
How do I help them, when all they know,
is a talking snowman and a box with a bow.
Maybe next year they will stop and see, the greatest gift of Christmas is the child sent from me.

Anonymous

What is Christmas?

My daughter, Kathy Purves, is presently living in Guatemala teaching in a Christian school. She writes a blog about her experiences. Here she explains the real meaning of Christmas. Please be sure to read it to the end. https://learnedalongtheway.blog/2019/12/01/this-is-christmas/?fbclid=IwAR2EOJaxoLEE1YkMrXTC7I2YWfLzPJnyOgYq5DQ6wj0CCs7cA42RNYPnmrI

Nothing in my world feels like Christmas.
There is no tree in my living room.
And I don’t think there will be.
The roommates are scattering to the four winds when school gets out in less than two weeks.

I have almost no money so there is very little shopping to do.

The ambience is missing. Warm weather, volcanoes, earthquakes, flowers in bloom, squashes ripening on the vine – these things do not say “Christmas” to my heart.

No Hallmark channel so no cheesy movies.
And no Christmas commercials since I don’t watch TV.
Christmas music only if I choose to play it.

Frankly, it doesn’t even feel like December.
And it certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas.

And I am glad.

Because Christmas, contrary to popular opinion, is not a feeling.

Don’t get me wrong.
I love the ambience, the trappings and the trimmings.
And I am glad that I will be home with family for it again this year.
Glad that there will be a tree and yummy foods, gifts and carols, cold weather and decorations.

But I am also glad that this year is very, very different for me.

Because Christmas was never meant to be a feeling.
Ambience.
Or trimmings, trappings and things.

Christmas is scandal.

A young woman, barely an adult, claiming to be impregnated by the Most High God.

Her fiancé, a businessman in the community, having to decide who and what to believe. Did she cheat? Is she pure? Or is she insane? A liar, a lunatic or the love of his life?

The Son of God born in a stable and placed in a manger. No softness except his mother’s body and a bed of straw. No cozy bedroom, no clean house. A feed trough for a bed.

Some crazy shepherds making claims about angelic visions in the night. Who were they to be told first? Who were they to have the privilege of the first visit?

Then the escalation of the heavenly war, God versus Satan, already in progress, now manifest by the murder of baby boys by a wicked king, bent on protecting his throne.

And a young family fleeing into the night, becoming strangers in a strange land, refugees and immigrants in Egypt to escape that same evil king.

This is Christmas.
Scandalous events.
And scandalous grace.

The One who spoke the world into being becoming a speechless infant.
The Almighty unable to hold up his own head.
The Omnipotent devoid of all power.

And then that same sinless God-made-man choosing powerlessness again at the end of his life.
Submitting to torture.
Humiliation.
Slaps. Spit. Slashes with a Roman whip.
Thorns thrust into his scalp.
A purple robe thrown over mangled flesh.
All while knowing every detail of every person who mocked him.
And loving them still.
Willing to take their punishment, even for the sin of punishing an innocent man.

This is Christmas.

Four limbs.
Three nails.
One cross.

6 hours of agony.
Separation from God the Father.
And the crushing weight of sin.

Unable to breathe without pushing up on the nail in his feet.
Yet able to forgive the ones who “know not what they do”.

This is Christmas.

A cold, dark journey just before dawn, carrying spices and fretting about who will roll away the stone.
Shock and confusion that the tomb was empty.
Elation at the words of the angel: “He is not here. He is risen, just as He said.”

This is Christmas.

Light piercing the darkness.
The veil of the Temple torn in two.
The ability to “boldly come before the throne of grace to receive help in time of need.”

This is Christmas.

So it is OK that I am not feeling “it” this year.
Because Christmas is not a feeling.

It is friendship with the Most High God.
It is the guarantee of eternal life and the glories of heaven that awaits.
It is the knowledge that I am never, ever alone.
And that He has ALL my life under control.

It is knowing that resurrection power is available every moment of my life.
And that I have all I need for life and godliness because I have Him.
It is the sure knowledge that He will go to any length to pursue me.
And that He found me to be worth dying for long before I found Him to be everything I need.
It is the promise that He will complete the good work He began in me.
That He will one day return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And that I do not have to fear the future in this life or the next.

This is Christmas.
Scandalous events.
Scandalous grace.
Scandalous love.

Joy to the world, indeed!

A tribute to Earl Martin

Earl Martin retired from Goddard Space Flight Center as a lead aircraft engineer and mechanic in 1991. He was a veteran having served in the Navy during WWII. He turned his woodworking hobby into a small business. Most of his creations were toys but he also made nativities. We first saw his work at the Christmas bazaar at Ss. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church Holiday Arts and Crafts Festival. We returned for several years buying one of his nativities at each one. We discovered another connection-he was the father of Sandy Hemphill. At that time Sandy's husband, David, was not our Pastor (he became our Pastor in 1997).

Stable by Earl Martin. Ceramic figures by Carole

I purchased the patterns for the two white nativities and asked Earl to make them for me.

The first nativity we bought from Earl Martin

It is

This nativity music box was Earl's prototype for future ones. He made it from a pew he purchased from his church and he gave it to us one Christmas. 

This is designed as a toy. Each piece has a magnet and there is a corresponding magnet glued to the base. Earl's wife, Peggy, did the painting.

A puzzle. All of the pieces fit into the stable which can also be used as a base for putting the pieces.

2018-19 Nativity Display

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We displayed 870 sets this year, down from 925 from last year because we took some out of the display to make it less crowded. 

There are more than 200 nativity sets/ornaments on the tree. We also put angels, stars, and crosses on the tree. 

It's been a long time since I worked on this blog

      It has been a long time since I worked on this blog. I reviewed it today to see what I have to do to bring it up to date. For the most part I add pictures in existing categories. In reviewing this blog I see that there are new categories to be added as well as lots of pictures to be added to existing one. I hope you will enjoy looking at my blog. It is by no means complete.
      I began the blog when we were living in Costa Rica for three months working as Mission Nannys. In the past few years we have been taking some of our nativities off of display and putting out some new ones. In 2017 we displayed 924 and this year's display (2018) we have 870 (more than 200 are on the tree).
     We begin putting up our display the beginning of November and have had it completed by Thanksgiving. We leave it up until the end of January hoping that many people will come to see it.
     I enter the Anne Arundel County Fair each year with at least three ceramic nativities (two in "Ceramics" and one in "Christmas") and one plastic canvas needlepoint nativity. Jack once entered a silk flower floral arrangement in "Christmas"). I have not paid too much attention to the "Christmas" categories and have always had to enter in "Table decoration below 12"). My entry this year got disqualified because the judge thought the imprinted  mold marking of 1999 meant it was not made in the 2018 entry year. This was actually a blessing because the lady in charge of Christmas is adding Nativity as a category. (The past two years haven't had any other nativities in the entire fair.). My goal in entering the fair is to remind people of the real meaning of Christmas.
   

Traditional one piece nativities

The nativities in this post have the traditional figures all in one piece. These are nativities that have not been documented because of special characteristics. I have included music boxes  because you wouldn't know it was a music box without turning it over.

I think we bought this at an after Christmas sale

Not sure how we acquired this one

Very large and very heavy nativity. While I was buying the five piece nativity cookie jar set (shown under "Nativities with a purpose" at the Christian Book Ship in Annapolis, I was talking about our nativity collection. This was sometime in the 90s. The owner gave this one to me because it had come in broken (one figure had broken off the base). He said it had come in broken and he had gotten his money back for it. I glued the broken figure back on and I cannot remember which one it was.

A gift from Kathy. I especially love the color of Joseph's clothes.

Short and squatty heavy resin nativity

Nativity fountan. The fountain no longer works.

A pair of nativities that came from Walgreens

Music box nativity

This music box nativity responds to motion, including changes in light. A light comes on behind the window in the back and the music comes on. We usually don't turn it on because it is so sensitive..

Very heavy music box nativity

A gift from Holly