Schoolboy Shepherd

A group of children were performing a Nativity play and the 
teacher encouraged them to improvise and use their own words.  Two shepherds approached the manger nervously and shyly knelt down without a word. The third, a bolder boy, looked into the manger, turned to Mary with a smile and said 
" Isn't he like his Dad!"

Crowning Glory

The school nativity play is, for parents, grandparents and 
children, one of the highlights of the Christmas season. 
However, as the following anecdote reveals, not all the
seasonal productions run according to plan:
One young boy desperately wanted to play the roleof the king 
and have the chance to wear a crown. 
He was, therefore, bitterly disappointed when he was cast
as the innkeeper.  Unable to disguise his feelings, when Joseph knocked on the door of the inn, the innkeeper said: 
"Come in, there's plenty of room."  With these few words, 
the innkeeper risked altering a script which had remained unchanged for well over a thousand years! 
Fortunately, the young Joseph was quick-witted enough 
to look inside then declare: 
"I'm not taking my wife into a place like that.
Come on Mary we'll sleep in the stable."

A Christmas Poem
Luke 2:7
1 Corinthians 3:16

Did you ever stop to wonder
Why God chose for His Son's birth
A dark, dirty smelly stable
Tho' He made and owns the earth?

I wonder if that stable
Such a smelly, ugly sight
Was transformed to shining beauty
When Our Lord came there that night.

Just as on down through the ages
Where Christ dwells, the gloom departs.
Filthy stables...changed to Temples
When He came into our hearts.
~ Bertha Lafferty ~

The Christmas Star

We've come a long way
since that frist Christmas night,
When led by a star
so wonderously bright,
The wise men journeyed
to find the place,
that cradled the Christ Child's
beautiful face -

But like lost sheep
we have wandered away
From God and His Son
Who was born Christmas Day,
And, unless we return
to our Father again,
We will never have peace
and goodwill among men -

So let us return
to our Father and pray
That Christ is reborn
in our hearts Christmas Day.
~ Helen Steiner Rice ~

Christmas Customs

The Custom of carol singing goes back to the 13th century 
and was carried out to commemorate the choir of angels, 
who according to the Gospels sang "Gloria in Excelsis Deo"
on the night of Christ's birth.

The Yule Log is the biggest log that can fit in the fireplace 
and is hauled in on Christmas Eve and lit with a piece 
of the log from the year before.  The log is meant to burn throughout Christmas to symbolise 
peace and prosperity for the coming year.

Background set made using
a Tube from A1 Emporium