by Pam Tinsley

Although our family custom is to wait until Christmas Eve to decorate our tree, by the second Sunday of Advent I have begun to adorn the house for Christmas. I have a collection of small wooden figurines that I’ve mostly inherited from parents or my mother-in-law. Several have been gifts from my husband, son, or brother. The newest is a small crèche that I purchased in 2022 in Bethlehem while on pilgrimage. I cherish the memories that each figurine evokes as I contemplate the mystery that is about to unfold again, Christ’s birth in a manger in Bethlehem.

Most of these figurines are placed on the mantel or on top of a tallish cupboard. The home for the family crèche, however, is atop a cupboard that is out of harm’s way from a boisterous basset hound and an inquisitive toddler. Of course, in good Episcopalian style the Magi are far from the stable; the angels and shepherds are in distant fields; and the baby Jesus is discreetly hidden.

After seeing my arrangement of the crèche, on the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, our 5½ year-old granddaughter Sienna had a different idea! After dinner she spent close to 30 minutes re-arranging the figures. She carefully placed Jesus in the manger and all the other figurines inside the stable. The little lambs are pressed right up against the manger. The shepherds, the Magi, and the angels are as close to the baby Jesus as his parents are.

I love the image that Sienna’s rearrangement of the crèche depicts: the baby Jesus already radiates the love that draws the world to him – from the angel and exalted heavenly choirs to the majestic Magi from the East to the lowly shepherds, and even the lambs.

Then, as we were all admiring her handiwork, Sienna motioned me to take a closer look, and she pointed at one of the lambs next to the manger. She whispered softly, yet intently, “That’s me.” Just the day before, she’d played a lamb in her ballet’s production of “The Nativity,” and she’d recreated the ballet’s closing scene with our crèche. For Sienna, it was more than that, though. For her, it was longing to be close to Jesus.

Each year, we are invited into the wonder and awe of Christmas. Like Sienna’s heart, our hearts long to be close to Jesus. And like Sienna – and the shepherds – after beholding God in a manger, we long to share the Good News of the Incarnation with others.