The True Meaning of
Christmas
Baby Jesus
About a week before Christmas, Mom bought a new nativity scene.
When she unpacked it, she found two figures of the Baby Jesus.
"Someone must have packed this wrong," mother said, counting
out the figures.
"We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds,
two lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh, dear!
I suppose some set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus
because we have two."
"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we
have an extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes
saying that if a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. Put on your
warm coats, it's freezing cold out there."
The manager of the store copied down mother's message, and the
next time we were in the store, we saw the cardboard sign that read,
"If you're missing Baby Jesus, call 7126."
All week long we waited for someone to call. Surely, we thought,
someone was missing that important figurine. Each time the
phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus." But
it never was.
Father tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over
the country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida
or Texas or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time.
He suggested that she just put the extra Jesus back in the box and
forget about it. "Put Baby Jesus back in the box?! What a terrible
thing to do," said mother. "Surely someone will call. We'll just
keep the two of them together in the manger until someone does."
When no call had come by 5:00 on Christmas Eve, mother insisted
that father "just run down to the store" to see if there were any sets
left. "You can see them right through the window, over on the counter,"
she said. "If they are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call
tonight."
"Run down to the store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out
there!"
"Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you!" We began to put on our coats. Father
gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't believe I'm
doing this," he muttered. We ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out
in the cold. Tommy got to the store first and pressed his nose up to
the store window.
"They're all gone, Daddy," he shouted. "Every set must be sold.
Hooray! The mystery will be solved tonight!" Father heard the
news still a half block away and immediately turned on his heel
and headed back home.
When we got back into the house, we noticed that mother was
gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.
"Someone must have called, and she went out to deliver the
figurine," father reasoned, pulling off his boots. "You kids get
ready for bed while I wrap mother's present."
Then the phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell
'em we found a home for Jesus."
But it was mother calling with instructions for us to come to
205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a
box of cookies and some milk.
"Now what has she gotten us into?" father groaned as we bundled
up again. "205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk
up good in the blankets, or it will turn to ice before we get there.
Why can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's probably 20 below
out there now. And the wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things
to do on a night like this."
When we got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest
one on the block.
Only one tiny light burned in the living room, and the moment we
set foot on the porch steps, mother opened the door and shouted,
"They're here! Oh thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take those
blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch.
I'll take the milk and cookies."
"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" father asked.
"We have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in
our faces all the way."
"Never mind all that now," mother interrupted.
"There is no heat in this house, and this young mother is so upset,
she doesn't know what to do. Her husband walked out on her, and
those poor little children will have a very bleak Christmas, so don't
you complain. I told her you could fix that oil furnace in a
jiffy."
My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my
brother and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled
together on the couch.
The children's mother explained to my father that her husband
had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of
furniture, but she had been doing all right until the furnace broke
down.
"I been doin' washin' an ironin' for people and cleanin' the five
and dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those
boxes on the counter. When the furnace went out, that number
kept goin' through my mind. 7162 ... 7162 ...
"Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should
call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people,
willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help me,
too."
"So I stopped at the grocery store tonight, and I called your missus.
I'm not missin' Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I
am missin' heat. I have no money to fix that furnace."
"Okay, okay," said father. "You've come to the right place. Now
let's see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room.
Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look
it over, see what it needs."
Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and
warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed
the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the table.
It was the only sign of Christmas in the house.
The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of cookies
my mother set before them. Father finally got the oil burner working
but said, "You need more oil. I'll make a few calls tonight and get
some oil. Yes sir, you came to the right place."
Father grinned.
On the way home, father did not complain about the cold weather
and had barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone.
"Ed, hey, how are ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say
Ed, we have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got
that pick-up truck. Do you still have some oil in that barrel on your
truck? You do?"
By this time the rest of the family was pulling clothes out of their
closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long after our bedtime
when we were wrapping gifts. The pickup came. On it were chairs,
three lamps, blankets and gifts.
Even though it was 30 below, father let us ride along in the back
of the truck. No one ever did call about the missing figure in the
nativity set, but as I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing
mistake at all. Jesus saves ... that's what He does.
~~Author Unknown
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~*~How
Can I
Help?~*~
Donation Account and
Gift Certificates for
Marie
Revised on Christmas Day of
2000
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