Memory Monday: Another Generation Learns

my granddaughter and the nativity

ANOTHER GENERATION LEARNS

It started the day after Thanksgiving. We hauled in lots of boxes (actually they are plastic cat litter tubs with lids) and our artificial tree. We put up the tree and wrapped it in lots and lots of lights, then I put on tubs of ornaments. After that, I set out the rest of the decorations.

The one thing I don’t do is to set out the nativity. Years ago, when my children were young, I hosted some kind of home decorating party. One of the things I “won” was a nativity of cutesy people and animals. I don’t remember how it worked out this way, but the tradition started that my daughter would be the one that arranged all the items in the stable. For years, my daughter set it up the “normal” way, but then she started putting the wise men figures some distance away. She would say the wise men weren’t at the stable when the shepherds were. The wise men came later. Which is true—smart kid.

My daughter now has a three-year-old daughter. While I am not ready to pass the nativity set down to my daughter, I did want it set up (and she’s the only one that does it—tradition, you know). So, the Monday after Thanksgiving when my daughter came to pick up her little one from our house (we pick up our granddaughter after pre-school and keep her until her mommy gets off of work), I had her arrange the people and animals. She told her daughter who each person was and then set the wise men of a small table a foot or two away from the stable. When my granddaughter came to our house on Tuesday, and every day since then, she gathered up all the people and animals, then set them up again, always saying how the wise men were far away—quick learner, smart kid.

I love this time of the year. I love traditions. I love my family.

I thank God that He sent Jesus and that we can pass the story of His birth down to the next generation.