This guest post comes from Erika Baker. Erika was brought up in the Protestant Church in Germany and for the last 23 years has been worshipping in the Church of England. She takes Advent very seriously.
When I left home, longer ago than I care to remember, my parents gave me the basics of a nativity: a stable, a holy family, a shepherd, some sheep, three wise men, a camel and an angel. Every year they would add another figure, and by the time my own children were born, I had quite a collection of members, human and animal, who would make an appearance faithfully every Advent.
When my girls were toddlers, they started to play with the wooden figures just like they played with their toy zoo animals, farm animals and the dolls’ house.
I would hear them say:
“I think the chicken needs to come into the stable to stay warm”.
“Is that safe, or will Joseph try to eat it?”
“Let’s put Joseph out to help with the sheep”.
Together, we would play the journey of the Magi, including camels closing their noses in a sandstorm in the desert and one of the Wise Men brushing sand off his coat afterwards.
We would invent games for the angels to play while they were waiting for the birth of Jesus.
And we would have arguments between the shepherds, fights between the cat and the dog, and evenings round the fire telling Advent and Christmas stories.
All of life was seen through the eyes of the members of the nativity.
And every year, another animal would be added. Most stayed forever, some stayed for a season. A few McDonald plastic toys only made a brief guest appearance. Unspecified Green Thing, made of pipe cleaners many years ago, stayed with us until last year. Other recent and permanent additions are a chocolate ladybird and two felted sprouts.
Yes, the story of the nativity didn’t end when the girls had grown up and left home. They would resume their playing when they came home in the Christmas break. One morning I came downstairs to find a drunken camel lying upside down on the roof of the stable. A follow-up scene saw Mary have a gentle talk with the hung-over creature.
Now grandchildren are playing the stories, but we adults also have lots of fun.
And they write their Christmas cards
My girls are now being kept up-to-date via Facebook and our all-too-human members of the nativity have developed a social media following.