The Christmas Story

Caroline's new favorite "toy" is our nativity set. She loves setting them up and playing out the night of Jesus' birth. Or pretending that baby Jesus is going off to school. Or to his grandmother's house. There are lots of variations on what Jesus and Mary and Joseph do with all of the animals, the shepherds, the wise-men, and the stable.

Yesterday I was cooking while she was playing in the other room. My ears perked up when she started raising her voice. The "conversation" was apparently between Mary and the Angel and it went like this:

"You will name him Jesus!"

"I KNOW Angel! Joseph and me already know this story!"

"But, I will tell you!"

"No, Angel! We are having a boy and his name is going to be Jesus and that is the way God made it."

We've talked about, read, and acted out the story of Jesus being born countless times with Caroline, but I guess the fact that the Angel and Mary and Joseph were all on the same team hasn't quite taken hold. For some reason when Caroline pretends with any of her figurines, from Disney princesses to Little People, to apparently Mary and an Angel, she always has one telling the other what to do. I try to encourage her to let her toys be friends and not boss each other around, but my supplications don't seem to be getting through.

It's really funny and humbling and even overwhelming at times to watch her as she grows and plays and uses her imagination in the way that God made her as an individual. I think we'll keep working on the Christmas story though.