Matthew 2: 1-12 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. …and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
Growing up we spent Christmas Eve at our Great-Grandparents Randall’s house. There were many, many people there to eat tamales that Grandma and her daughters (my Grandmother and her sisters) spend days making. We’d have our dinner, and then Grandma Pearl would shuffle all of the little kids — the second cousins — into the back bedroom and dress us for the annual presentation of the nativity. The angels were dressed in white garbage bags with sliver tinsel around our waists and bobby-pinned on our heads. Mary and Joseph were usually my sister and our cousin Keith. If there happened to be a newish baby that year, he or she would be Baby Jesus. If not there was the dolly we called “Kay” in the toy box that was a fabulous stand in. The oldest teenagers were the narrators and song leaders. And usually the rowdy boys were the “Wise Guys” (thank you Uncle Richard for that — it stuck!). The prized part was not Mary or Joseph, but those Wise Guys. Why? Because they got to wear paper Burger King crowns, and bath towels pinned over their shoulders. But from these many years of Christmas pageants, I came to love those Wise Men, they always had the fun part of the program — and those paper crowns! Continue reading
If this is the last week your children are in school — you have all of my sympathy, support, and a bag of cookies (very big bag of cookies!). I think this is the hardest week of the year, at least for me. I feel like we have to army crawl with one arm over the finish line on Friday.
Luke 2: 7, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” We know Christ was born into humble circumstances. 
If you get emails from the Church, you’ve probably seen this already. If not here is a 
As I’ve been writing about Christmas music the last couple of weeks, I have tried to focus on sacred music. After all it is Christmas .. you know Christ’s Mass. It’s a religious holiday. I’ve been scratching my head as I’ve read more than a few news stories about towns, schools, and shopping malls banning things like nativity displays, public readings of the Christmas story from the Bible, and even candy canes. The excuse usually has to do with something along the lines of, “We’re promoting inclusivity…” bla, bla, bla. Ok, but it’s a Christian religious holiday — it’s ok to include Christ and Christians in there somewhere. The Nativity story is part of the holiday, as is reading the Bible, singing the songs and so forth. The sad thing is these attempts to be “inclusive” end up being “exclusive” to the people whose holiday it is in the first place … Christians, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. You know Christ’s Mass…. anyway, I’ll get off my soap box now. I feel much better.