Nativity Mash Up

Like many households in America, we have a nativity set. After our bellies are full of turkey and pumpkin pie, we go about opening up all the Christmas decorations and one of our most favorite to bring out is the nativity set. I think one reason I love taking it out is because it is a great teaching tool with children to visually show them the parts of the Christmas story. They love looking at all the characters and learning about baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and everyone else. And while our nativity set is not made of glass, it's also not meant to be a hands-on children's toy. This would be why we have a Little People Nativity Set, courtesy of our friends at Fisher-Price.

I think you all know where this is going. We've already had one poor little lamb become an amputee and I think one of the shepherds has lost his staff a minimum of twelve times. It's our own fault for placing it in a very enticing place and at a child's height, so I guess we had it coming. I thought I was being pretty good about watching the kids and making sure they weren't playing with the nativity set, but the other day all my suppositions were proven false. You see, this is what the nativity set is supposed to look like ...

Nice, reverent, celebrating a miracle the way they did 2000 years ago.

So imagine my surprise (well, I wasn't really surprised to see this) when I came in the room the other day and the nativity set now looked like this ...

Let's take a closer look, shall we? First let's look at the poor shepherd.

I guess Mr. Shepherd was getting tired of having to hold that dang sheep 24 hours a day. So instead of just setting Lambchop down, he decided to strangle him with his staff. Kinda makes you wary of bad mouthing a shepherd now, doesn't it?

And speaking of the lambs ...

They decided to forgo their nicely staged placement around the baby Jesus and form an America's Most Wanted lineup instead. "It was the second one from the right, officer ... I would bet my life on it!"

I don't think the wise men get adequate credit for just how far they had to travel to come and worship the baby Jesus. Those dudes had to walk a long way. So long in fact, that I guess exhaustion just took over at some point.

Hope he wasn't the one who brought the gold.

And finally we have Joseph. Whoever "tweaked" the nativity set must have thought he hadn't been very good lately. In fact, he apparently required a time out.

He must have done something pretty naughty to have to face the corner like that.

Don't worry, after documenting the changes that took place to the set, I made sure everyone got back to their proper places. I still don't know who provided us with this recent nativity mash up, but I think the characters rather enjoyed a moment away from their normal places. Variety is the spice of life, right? Well, that's at least the mantra we keep echoing around here!

*This post is in no way meant to be a mockery of the nativity or its very special meaning. We love Jesus and celebrating his birth, and we know He understands the humor and laughter that children bring to each and every life situation!