And it came to pass…
Christmas morning my parents came over to watch the kids dig into their stockings and unwrap their gifts, as well as get their gifts from us.
After all the Christmas gifts were unwrapped in our home, we went down the street to my parent’s home for a hearty family breakfast of eggs, biscuits and bacon, and then, it was time to unwrap even more gifts – this time from my parents.
It was a lovely, lazy, Christmas morning with family.
After unwrapping gifts we sat around a bit, visiting and drinking coffee – watching the kids tinker with their new gifts. An hour or so later, we parted ways to clean-up and head to my Mother’s parents’ home for one more Christmas celebration with our extended family.
There are so many family traditions that surface around Christmas and the New Year, but one of my favorites is listening to the Christmas Story through the mouth of a child.
Through the years, my Momma Milly has kept a tradition of having the youngest “capable of reading” grandchild (or great-grandchild, as the case may be), read the story of the birth of Christ from this book, The First Noel, to the rest of the family. And when the “rest of the family” gathers it is quite significant as my mother comes from a family of 7 siblings – a few with their own grandchildren.
The reference in this book is from the Gospel according to Luke.
This year Kenny was the designated reader; he got to bring the book home for a week before Christmas to practice – the language and vocabulary always a bit of a challenge for an early reader.
It is a good discipline – and because it is recognized as an honor, there wasn’t much squabbling over the “practice” time.
This book is very old and beginning to give way at the binding, the illustrations are rich and beautiful, and the language is that of scripture. I enjoyed explaining to Kenny the meaning of the words he read. For instance, “…Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.”
We agreed that no one speaks like that anymore, which is unfortunate, because it sure is a beautiful way to say she was pregnant, don’t you think?
Kenny thought this amusing, “…and they were sore afraid.”
“That’s pretty afraid if it made them sore!”
Riiiiiight!
I always get tingly over this part, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, and ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN.”
“And it came to pass, as the ANGELS were gone away from them into HEAVEN,”…the shepherds got their “jam-on” in the fields with their hands held high!
Oh wait, that’s not what it says.
But seriously? I think they just might have had a little swing in their hips and some charismatic hands-held-high moves going on following the Angels’ visit, don’t you think?
OH YEAH!
OH YEAH!
THE LORD IS COME!
OH YEAH!
OH YEAH!
No disrespect, of course.
So, when the time came, Kenny quietly read the story for me, Jeff, his sisters, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
A multitude.
I watched his legs swing back and forth – dispelling his nerves and setting his pace, softly voicing the truth that has been handed-down generation after generation, nestled in his daddy’s lap should he need prompting. My heart melting, my eyes filling with tears, the Holy Spirit resonated within my very being in response to the Truth spoken from the mouth of a child…
my child
HIS child.
Praise the Lord.
I hope your Christmas was just as abundant!
19 have spoken up.
Beth A
Oh Heather, the blogs I read are my addiction. Some times they make me think, they give me creative ideas, and many times they make me laugh. But when they make me cry sitting in my office on a blistery Monday afternoon…those are the blogs I remember for many weeks to come. :) I’m sure if I were a member of your family, I would have cried watching Kenny read too. Such a sweet entry!
Heather Cook
Sounds like an awesome Christmas – that book is beautiful. That passage was the first one my grandmother taught me when I was 5 or 6, just reading the words and feeling them in my heart makes me well up!
heather
what a beautiful tradition! and that book is absolutely amazing! thank you so much for sharing this!
bethany actually
You have Blue Willow plates?
That book is AWESOME. The illustrations are so beautiful! And what a lovely tradition to have the youngest read the Christmas story.
bethany actually
Oh! I just realized you said you went down the street to your parents’ which is probably where the Blue Willow is. I was gonna say, that seemed much more like your mom’s thing than yours. ;-)
Valerie
What a simply beautiful tradition and you are so very fortunate to have had this in your family for all these years! It will be carried on and one day your young son will hold his child and be there in case help is needed when the story is read. God Bless you all. Thank you for sharing this.
mamalang
I love this book…it looks amazing! And what a sweet tradition…love this.
Kate
What a wonderful tradition! And such a great honor for Kenny to read it, having all his family hanging on his words. I doubt he’ll soon forget it.
Heather, have I told you how glad I am that you are back blogging, and sharing your family with us? There’s really no one else out there like you, at least to me. I always feel so inspired and touched by your posts, so thank you for sharing snippets of your life.
Happy Holidays!
Geri C
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that book! It is such a beautiful book and an even more beautiful tradition. We have been working hard on traditions this year, as my family really has none. I really enjoyed this post and I always feel your seet spirit in what you write. Thanks for sharing your Christmas with us!
Geri C
Seet spirit? Okay, sure. But even better would be your SWEET spirit. That’s what I feel coming through in your writing, even more than your SEET spirit.
OMSH
Thanks to all of you! Blogging is so much more special because of those of you who read and comment. Lovin’ y’all and thankful for y’all this season!
Beth A. – I think God’s Word pierces straight to the heart and warms up our very core. I’m glad I could be an extension of that for you at work!
Heather Cook – It has that same effect on me too!
Geri C – SEET or SWEET…thank you. :) *wink*
Kate – Thank you for your kind words; wow, what an honor and delight to wake up to your spirit of exhortation!
Erica
Beautiful.
Lindsey
Dear Heather, Merry Christmas to you and your family! I loved hearing about the tradition of the youngest reading child proclaiming the story of Jesus’ birth. How beautiful! (It’s like the end of Charlie Brown Christmas, in real life. Gives me shivers!) I’m going to go back in the post and see if you mentioned it, but who is the publisher of that book? I’m guessing it’s long out of print, but I’d be interested in looking for it. The illustrations are lovely and please my eye the way Tomie de Paola’s do.
I meant to email you a long time ago, but time got away from me. I saw you at D.B. Farm with your kids. I was with my kids and our homeschool group, and since I don’t know you, I didn’t want to make a big embarrassing fuss about knowing who you are via Jessica’s blog, but yeah. :) I got a migraine that day, so went I went home I just had to crash and be sick for a few days, and then never wrote. But anyway…I never realized that you were in “my” part of Texas. I thought you might be in Austin! Hi! *waving* If I see you again at any other popular homeschooling hangouts, I’ll try to muster up the courage to say hi in person. :)
Lindsey
Grandma Debbie
A beautiful tradition! I think traditions so anchor us in our family and help us have a sense of family and who we are. As I am late to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, I’ll will say I’m wishing ya’ll a fabulous New Year! hugs.
Grandma Debbie
Oops, caught my error too late. It should read, “I will say…” Just so you know that I know, you know?
xo
OMSH
Lindsey – Though I know I emailed you already I want to say FOR THE RECORD…please do not ever pass me up without a “HI!” again! That goes for anyone. I WANT to meet all y’all lovelies!
Grandma Debbie – Boy do I KNOW that you KNOW that I KNOW! :)
Sarkasmo
Such a sweet, touching story. I’m not religious – in fact, I’m the black sheep of the family; my mom is now the secretary for the church in the parish she’s been attending since kindergarten, which is also the same school and church my sister and I attended, and my sister is the youth minister for said parish. Me? I’m more of a heathen. But I know that there’s something there, and it’s probably the same something that everyone else thinks is there, but I can’t give it a name or say whom it would and wouldn’t smite or reward.
Anyway, as noncommittal as I am to Christianity, there’s something about the story of the birth of Jesus that really does touch me and this tradition of having it read by a child is beautiful and real. Oh, and that book is awesome. The illustrations, the fonts, it’s great.
Lady in a Smalltown
What a beautiful tradition. My husband reads Twas The Night Before Christmas every year on Christmas Eve. It is just his gramma (101 years old), his mom, and me, but it is our tradition. This year we read it early so our little boy (7 months) could hear it too.
I went looking for this book after reading your post. Did you know it is available on eBay for $140? http://tinyurl.com/y9oq39z
Limestone Legends
Lovely tradition! I was so inspired that I purchased this book for myself – only $11.50 from an Amazon Marketplace seller in like-new condition. It is a beautiful book and my girls already love it (even after Christmas!). Thank you for sharing.
Comment if ya wanna.