A Christmas Story

"Who's the baby in the manger, William?" my wife asked our four-year-old son.

"Julia," he replied.

Julia is his baby sister, born in September. We knew immediately that drastic pedagogical measures were required. I'm not having one of my kids walking around oblivious of the true meaning of Christmas! (My older son was even more muddled a few years ago.)

So my wife scoured the internet for an interactive nativity set we could use to lead William toward Christological enlightenment. She found the perfect one, and it was UPSed to our doorstep in days.

Seven little "gift" boxes accompanied the manger scene, six of them containing a figure for the mini-nativity. An illustrated story book explained each person and their part in the story. We let Will open the third box, containing the baby Jesus.

"Who's the baby in the manger, William?"

"Jesus!"

Whew.

Then we came to the seventh box. It was different from the others. The ongoing "theme" of the activity was a question: What does God want for Christmas? The answer was revealed in the seventh box, the bottom of which was lined with a simple mirror.

"Who's in the box, William?" Will gazed blankly into the box at the little mirror. "Who do you see, Will?" Finally, he pointed to himself and said, "Me!" "That's right, Will -- God wants you for Christmas." We passed the box around, each peering into it and announcing that God wants "me" for Christmas. A clever poem from the book explained the idea and wrapped up our lesson.

Shortly thereafter, my wife was putting Will down for a nap.

"What does God want for Christmas, William?"

Will pleasantly replied, "A mirror."