My family has been reading The Littlest Angel together
every Christmas Eve since 1971 (when my parents were engaged).
This story has so much emotion tied up in it,
that we mostly just sob through the whole thing.
My Dad usually starts off reading, and before long
he has to pass the book on to another reader
who still has dry eyes (and it continues on that way
until we finally finish it!)
We are honored to have my parents here with us this Christmas,
so my Dad did the ceremonial reading.
And I happy to report that he made it through the book
without needing a tissue.
The star of our story--the youngest member of the heavenly host--
is bringing havoc to heaven with this boyish ways.
He is unhappy, because
he misses the joys that a young boy can only find on Earth:
a sky-blue egg from a bird's nest,
two white stones he found while playing in a muddy river,
the collar from his mongrel dog...
When he is allowed to bring these treasures back to heaven with him,
he becomes the model of angel behavior.
The time comes for the Christ child to be born on Earth.
As a gift for the Lord, the Littlest Angel offers his most prized possessions,
all treasures that a four-year-old boy would hold most dear.
What happens next is truly touching,
as God accepts the gift that only a boy could give.
For our craft, we decided to create a crude box
like the one in the story where the Littlest Angel kept his earthly treasures.
We filled it with things that we'd give the baby Jesus.
As you can see, there's a train, a toy soldier, a rock, a Hershey bar, and an angel.
The pattern for making these angels, also part of today's craft, can be found here.
I thought that my favorite Christmas gift this year would be
that my kids all slept in past 7:30am this morning,
but then my son gave me the best gift later tonight when
I whispered in his ear and said, "You are a precious boy."
and he whispered in my ear and said,
"You're a wonderful Mother."
My Christmas is complete.
Merry Christmas, friends!
i'm starting to think that your craft pile is going to be bigger than mine in no time!! thanks for posting your fun-ness. I used to have a children's Christmas party each year for my littles ones and their kids...before they started their school years. And we'd do such fun activities. And I'd give a (sort of) FHE packet to each family to share the Christmas story with their families too. A nice way to share with neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI found you because my mother follows your blog and told me that I HAD to come look at all your wonderful ideas for Thanksgiving books...and I just kept looking! Thank you for so many wonderful and inspirational posts. I look forward to incorporating your ideas with my son and helping have a more Christ centered Christmas.
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