Photograph of Skype video call over the Internet on Christmas Eve
Our son Nathan and his wife Angela gave us a delightful Christmas Eve present tonight when they telephoned and invited us to join them via Skype (Internet video) as their children, Vince and Eliza, set up the nativity scene in the family room of their home in Utah.
Many years ago when our own children were very young we established a Christmas Eve family tradition of using Perry Como's wonderful 1959 recording (originally an LP vinyl record that has been remasterd onto a CD) of the First Christmas in the little town of Bethlehem. As Perry Como told the story and sang the appropriate hymns, our sons and daughters would take turns placing Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and all of the other nativity figures and animals in and around the stable. Because we had a large family, each year we would select a different child to be in charge of distributing the figures to their siblings when it was time to add another person or animal to the nativity scene.
The rules by which this activity was conducted were simple and well-understood:
- The child in charge would choose who would be selected each time a figure was added
- The person who was selected decided where the piece would be placed in the manger scene
- Everyone was to remain quiet during the presentation
Predictably, we had some very interesting nativity arrangements through the years that included a sheep in the manger with Baby Jesus, a cow or donkey on the roof of the stable, Joseph outside the stable with the shepherds, and the mysterious addition of a small Superman or dinosauer to the other more traditional figures associated with the birth of Christ.
There are moments, like Christmas Eve, when full-time missionaries have thoughts about what it means to be away from their families. This our second consecutive Christmas as missionaries away from home was sweetened by the thoughtfulness of our son and daughter who allowed us to be with them and two of our grandchildren for a few special minutes. Afterwards when I thanked Nathan for allowing us to participate, he replied that this Christmas Eve tradition was a good idea that he loved from his childhood that they have chosen to continue within their own family.
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