Saturday, November 30, 2013

Bethlehem Breakfast

This year I am continuing a tradition that I started last year with the Joseph and Mary figurines from our nativity scene.  My idea for this actually was inspired my the Elf on the Shelf craze.  I love the idea of adding some mystery and magic to the Christmas season, but the Elf just didn't fit my style.  Keeping the focus off of presents at Christmastime is hard enough as it is.  I mean, from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, whenever I am out with my kids, any and all adults, even strangers, will ask them "Is Santa coming to your house?  Do you think he will bring you lots of presents?"  And for weeks after Christmas, we get "Did Santa come to your house? What did he bring you?"  The constant reminder of greed can be pretty overwhelming for toddlers.  And last year was pretty rough with B.  He was completely consumed with what he wanted, what he was getting, how many presents he was going to get, etc.  It got pretty annoying, especially when you are trying to teach your children virtues like gratitude, humility, and charity.

On top of that, we have not encouraged belief in Santa Claus with our children.  Now I know this is a very sensitive subject and most parents have VERY strong opinions regarding Santa, so don't misunderstand me.  I have no issues with people who play up the Santa scene with their kids.  I, myself, was a firm believer in the jolly old elf until I was about 10 years old.  But like I said, we want to teach our children to be grateful for what they are given, and show their gratitude to those who gave.  And quite frankly, we just wanted to be honest with them.  Plus, I think the stress of trying to keep my kids from figuring out that I am Santa would send me over the edge.  I am not so great at secret keeping.  So, I set my thoughts on coming up with a similar idea to the Elf on the Shelf without the Santa/present focus.

I seem to vaguely remember searching for a 'religious Elf on the Shelf idea' on Pinterest and coming up with pretty much nothing, but I do think I read something about Mary and Joseph that sparked my idea.  So here it is:  when I set up my nativity scene, I do not put Mary, Joseph, or Baby Jesus in the stable.



Mary and Joseph spend their nights traveling through our house on their way to Bethlehem.  Every morning, they are in a new and different location.  The kids LOVE getting up in the morning and hunting down Mary and Joseph.  Last year, Mary and Joseph were found in all kinds of fun places--on the blade of a ceiling fan, balancing on curtain rods and picture frames, and even on the headboard of B's bed!  But on Christmas morning, Mary and Joseph are in the stable and the baby Jesus in laying in the manger since he was born during the night.  I will never forget when C noticed that they were in the stable last year on Christmas morning!  She was so excited.


So this year Mary and Joseph made their grand debut at what I called a Bethlehem Breakfast.  They were front and center on the breakfast table, and B was thrilled at their arrival.  He had helped me set out the nativity scene last night, and I had conveniently snagged the holy family and stashed them at the top of my closet.  He was pretty surprised when we had opened every box and set out every figurine and still hadn't come across any of them.  In the days and weeks leading up to Christmas I had asked him a few times if he thought Mary and Joseph would be traveling through our house again.  He would give me an exasperated look and say, "Yeah, when you get them down from the attic."  So the fact that they were not where he expected them to be was shocking.  He asked me yesterday, "Mommy, are you trying to trick me?"  Not much gets past that boy!

So anyway, the big arrival was this morning at breakfast.  I used my yard of burlap as a tablecloth, stuck my glass cake plate in the middle of the table, covered it with brown gift filler paper, and put Mary and Joseph right in the middle.  And since I had put up my blue Christmas tree in the kitchen, I used my blue willow plates and grabbed the blue "T" napkins from my stash.  I served cinnamon rolls and sausage--it was a hit.



Mary and Joseph have now traveled to the top of the refrigerator where they are waiting to be found by my kiddos in the morning.

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