Twas The Write Before Christmas: Day 5

Vintage Christmas

Christmas eve, all bundled up for a white Christmas, dressed in our Sunday best, we walk into the church where I grew from a baby girl to a young woman.  The sanctuary is aglow with candlelight, Christmas trees, and the newborn babe lying in a manger.  We slide into a pew and wait for the opening hymn and the story to unfold through the eyes of children.

As the little Mary and Joseph search for room in the overcrowded town of Bethlehem, my heart begins to swell.  I've heard the story year after year, but there is something about seeing children reenact the scenes of that night that remind me of the awe and wonder of a child hearing it for the first time.

When the angels fill the manger scene to announce the birth of the newborn king, we all join in singing.  After a few more songs, the service ends and a line begins to form of children eager to see the nativity scene with the baby Jesus.  Even as a teenager, I was just as eager as those little children as I stood speechless before the tiny wooden figure that reminds us of the real baby born on that day.

This year, as I pulled out our nativity, the one that used to sit in my great grandma's home, I smile as my own children gasp and jump for joy.  "It's baby Jesus!" they shout.  And we go about our days, every so often one of them will walk over to the manger scene, lean their head in their hands on the table, and silently take it all in.  No store bought Santa or red and green tinsel can hold their attention so well.  Because there is something timeless and beautiful in the vintage Christmas scene with the newborn Jesus center stage. 

 
Linking up with Bigger Picture Blogs for this year's Twas The Write Before Christmas.  Check out this year's prompts here and join in the fun!