Non-traditional traditions

Every year, since our oldest kids were quite young, the children have put together a Christmas themed play to present on Christmas Eve. Then they follow it with their own unique version of the nativity…complete with live animals (dogs and cats), or small people playing the roles of live animals. Christel and I get to be the audience. Each year as children have been added to our Tribe, the productions have become even more wonderful. It has become one of our most treasured holiday traditions. This year’s play was a lively presentation of the classic story of The Little Drummer Boy.

Before.

After

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Jazz as Mary, Micah as the drummer boy, Honour as a lamb, Ty as a wise man.

Amber as a donkey (she was also the director), and poor, patient Lola as a camel.

"I'll play my drum for you..."

The nativity.

Micah and Jazz as Mary and Joseph.

Beautiful.

Michaela as a shepherd.

And special thanks to Aragorn from Lord of the Rings for stepping in and playing the part of a shepherd!

Honour and Lola

Lola's Christmas gift was this new bed. It says "If my dreams would come true, bones would rain from the sky."

Before moving back up to the northeast 9 years ago, we lived in Texas for about 8 years. Every Christmas Eve our family would go to a local stable, nestle into a pile of hay and celebrate Christmas together. Our evening together would consist of reading the Christmas story by candlelight, singing some carols and whispering a few prayers. Very simple, and sometimes wonderfully messy. The animals would look at us curiously as if they were wondering why we were there.

I remember one particular Christmas Eve in the stable. Lying right next to us was a VERY pregnant cow. While I was reading the Christmas story, the poor cow kept interrupting the most critical moments of the story with an agonizing groan or moan. The kids couldn’t help themselves from giggling through most of the story. Meanwhile a few stalls away, there were a couple of goats “getting friendly”. My kids began asking; “Hey Dad…what are those goats doing???” And at the same time there were the frequent exclamations of “It stinks in here!!” We LOVED every minute of it! It provided us with great opportunity to explain to the kids how this was just like it was 2000 years ago in the Bethlehem stable on that first Christmas.

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Christel and I would watch our children’s eyes grow wide with wonder as they would ponder why God would choose such a place to show up. And in watching them, she and I would, for a moment, recapture some of our own child-like wonder. I will never forget the quiet walks back to the car under a star lit sky. A sky that seemed to never end. Light piercing darkness. Silence about to erupt into singing. A God who was not afraid to get dirty…entering into the mess of the human race.

I heard a story of a 4-year-old girl who had a new baby brother. One night she asked her parents to leave her alone with the little baby. As her parents watched from a crack in the doorway, they saw their little daughter tiptoe to his crib and put her face next to her baby brother. Quietly she asked, 'Baby, tell me what God is like. I'm starting to forget.'

In these crazy times, and in all the mess the world is in, we are trying hard not to forget. During this time of the year and through our traditions, we are often undone by the hope, joy and wonder we see in our children. And it is often because of them that we are able to remember.

-Rob