Away In a Manger

Last week Sophie decided she wanted us to act out the Nativity as a family. I know many people do this on Christmas Eve, but it's not a usual activity for us. We do tell the story of Jesus' birth, we read Luke 2 and the other scriptural accounts throughout the month of December, and we have several Nativities throughout the house to remind us why we celebrate Christmas. But acting it out was new for our bunch.

Inexperience didn't deter Sophie. She gathered costumes and handed out roles. I was Mary, Bryan was Joseph, and a baby doll stood in for baby Jesus. Bryan announced that the couch would play the part of the donkey, which Sophie accepted without argument. Cooper was the lone shepherd, Peter, Phoebe, and Topher were the Wise Men. And Sophie played the angel and the director.

After we were all costumed, Bryan read the account from Luke 2 while the rest of us pantomimed our parts. The older kids thought it was fun and were a little silly, but Topher was really reverent. When it was his turn to hand his gift to the baby, he was so solemn. The whole thing didn't take long at all, I'm so glad Sophie encouraged us to do it.

Sophie had originally wanted to have this activity earlier in the week and had started looking for costumes then. Topher was a shepherd originally, then asked for a cape instead. Seeing the costume change, I asked, "Oh, are you going to be a wise man?"

"No," he replied very seriously, "I'm going to be a superhero."

As we were getting ready to start our reenactment, I shared that story with the whole family. When Peter heard it, he said, "Well there was a superhero." And he pointed to the doll that represented Jesus.

Peter is right. Jesus really is the superhero, of all our stories.