Po' po' Joe...Oh, no nose, Jo....

Somewhere around my 4th grade year I decided that I really wanted a nativity for Christmas. I told my mom and dad that I wanted a little nativity. A couple weeks before Christmas, my dad started constructing a creche. It was huge...I wanted a LITTLE nativity and Dad was making a HUGE barn. I tried to talk to him but he didn't understand. I talked myself into being very surprised when I saw the set.

Christmas Eve, my dad and mom had put the little, tiny nativity in the LARGE barn. I was so disappointed but tried to be happy. I knew my dad had worked hard to make the creche. Christmas morning came and I went out to the living. There in the barn that dad had made, were the perfect sized nativity characters.

I was so excited and that nativity has had a special place in our home and my heart since then. One year as we unpacked the pieces, because they had been stored in our unheated shed, all of the paint pealed off when we removed the newspaper. I started crying and my dear husband assured me that we could go to a craft store, get paint and restore the pieces. We left right away and he fixed it.

The pieces are beginning to show wear and tear. This king has a "rip" in his robe.

Po' po' Joseph has no nose. The donkey has chunks out of him...

When our kids were at home we all waited and unpacked the figurines together. We would be so excited when we found Baby Jesus.

Those days are gone now because of the distance between us. But looking at this set, brings back huge memories of so many Christmases.

It isn't the figurines, the creche (which has been replaced by my brother-in-law, Jerry), or the memories of setting it up. This is symbolic of who is important in this season. It is He to whom we can give praise. It is at His feet that we bow. And that is what this nativity says to me each year that it is put in place.

When Betsy was about 15 months old, this was her favorite place to be during Christmas.

This year...Come Let us adore Him...each moment of this Christmas season.

Another one of my favorite things...