December 13, 2024
One of my favourite Christmas stories is a book called Angela and the Baby Jesus, written by Irish author Frank McCourt. A few years ago it was made into a short animated film available on Netflix. McCourt also wrote Angela’s Ashes, a memoir of his childhood, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997.
Here’s the trailer from the Netlix film:
https://youtu.be/RnrkwZBnbLs?si=ABHqJj8s7PWs_0O7
Or you can listen to the audiobook at:
https://youtu.be/1uTFapQ9G5c?si=wU6yFBJpp055d7UT
Angela and the Baby Jesus is a true story about McCourt’s mother, who as a young child kidnaps the baby Jesus from the nativity scene in the church.
She thought he looked cold, so she brings him home and tucks him under the covers in her own bed which she shares with her sister. Of course, she has a hard time keeping it a secret, and soon the whole family knows that she has stolen the baby Jesus from the church nativity scene. Her mother is horrified.
What will the priest say? When the priest arrives with the police, he is faced with what to do with Angela, who after all, has only entered the story in a very real way, who just had the baby Jesus’ welfare at heart.
Next week, Advent 4, is Love. When we open our hearts to let love into our hearts, we are, like John the Baptist, preparing the way for Christ to be born, again and again, in the world. We are, like little Angela, taking Jesus out of the nativity scene and bringing him into our homes. We are, like Mary and Zechariah in our readings this week (Advent 3, Joy) and last (Advent 2, Peace), saying yes to God.
I am enjoying seeing your pictures and reading your stories about your favourite nativity scenes.
And, I look forward to this Sunday evening when I will see Bethany’s Living Nativity. Carol Knapp starts us off with this story of one of the previous Living Nativity evenings:
“Once at the Living Nativity Glen (a shepherd – with a goat!) was kneeling by the manger when his goat head butted him in the butt and sent him into the manger.”
That must have been quite the sight!!
Here are a few more:
Several of you have mentioned to me that years ago Bethany also made the nativity scene blocks that I am using with the children during the Sundays in Advent.
This is from Ann Bradley. She said:
“You inspired me to dig these out of the Christmas chest. They were buried beneath so much stuff! But they are still in good shape. We are missing the angel.”
I told her I still had the patterns of all the figures. In fact, The Christian Education Committee at my previous church decided they would undertake the project over zoom during Advent 2020. And, to be clear, it was the GO Project staff and CE Committee members that organized the event and did all the preparations. My felt cutting days are long gone. Here they all are. It worked surprisingly well.
Sandra Shields: I have had this since 1972. It was a gift, from a woman named Mrs. Heath, who would become like a mother to me.
Maryth Maxner: This Nativity was the one I used in my Preschool for many years. It was well enjoyed and not one piece was broken. It was symbolic that all the characters are children.
This is our Nativity when Chuck and I were first married, simple yet it tells the story so well.
Louisa Duck: Attached is a picture of our little Nativity scene. This dates back to Christmas of 1940, the first Christmas that my maternal grandparents were married.
My granddad worked at Aluminum Goods in Toronto, and various salesmen would go in during the lunch hours with their various wares. Grandpa brought this home for Nana one day after work.
When I was growing up, this was on my parents’ mantel every Christmas. The Christmas that Tom and I were engaged, in 1994, my dad gave my mum an early gift, a beautiful hand-painted ceramic Nativity. It was lovely, but my brothers and I were shocked at such a change. Why mess with tradition? And then, when we were putting away the decorations after the holiday that year, my mum filled a box with ornaments for Tom and I, and she put in the Nativity, along with the little village you see to the right. They’ve been in our home for 29 Christmases now. So that’s the story of our Nativity!
Pam Carter: Not sure how old it really is but was always there when growing up. It is missing Joseph, some animals, a couple of wise men. The angel is missing a halo. It belonged to my aunt who had it on top of a little tree. When my daughter was little and we would go visit Aunt Blanche more than 40 years ago Wendy loved holding it so my Aunt gave it to her. It was added to the nativity.
Linda Knechtel: I have been using this Nativity Scene since my son was very young. It was handcrafted in Lunenburg and can be set up in different configurations. It was my son’s Christmas “job” to set it up each year. Now, my great, great niece (age 2) can enjoy it too.
And here are a few more from Julie Johnson’s collection …
