Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

A Favorite Christmas Story

Starandjesuspincoreyama_2

                         "…and a little child shall lead them."

                Isaiah 11:6

 

When I was fourteen my Mother had her fifth and last child,

a boy that my Father named Zane.

My other three brothers and I were excited to tell our baby brother about Baby Jesus.

We repeatedly told him the Christmas story,

telling him that on Christmas morning he would be the one to put the "baby Jesus" in the manger.

 

Of course on Christmas morning we jumped out of bed bright and early,

what child doesn't believe in Santa?

Zane seemed to be a bit lackadaisical about the whole thing,

and that struck us as odd. But hey he was only a little tot

so we figured maybe he didn't really get it yet.

My brothers and I raced into the kitchen,

each one of us wanted to be the first one to give baby Jesus to our baby brother Zane.

But to our surprise, we could not find it.

We searched and searched for baby Jesus.

Where had he gone? What happened?

Hadn't we put him in the kitchen junk drawer?

 

Who saw him last?

After what seemed an eternity looking for the main nativity character,

we noticed Zane crying.

Gee, maybe he did get it after all.

We felt bad for him, poor little guy.

We told him not to cry that Jesus lives in our hearts

and that the missing plastic baby Jesus was not the real thing,

and that Christmas would go on.

 

Zane looked up to us with his big brown eyes and said,

"I threw the baby Jesus in the fire.

He was getting too much attention."

 

We were dumbfounded.

We have never let Zane forget his Jesus toss.

 

Do you have a favorite Christmas tale to tell?

Comments

14 responses to “A Favorite Christmas Story”

  1. Jeanne

    Your stories are precious.
    Thanks for sharing your heart and beautiful words with us always.
    Love Jeanne

    Reply
  2. Anna

    Oh, what a great story! I’m trying to imagine the look on all of your faces when Zane confessed.
    When our two sons were little, I used to put a little Hummel Baby Jesus in an empty basket on the first Sunday of Advent….alongside a smaller basket of straw. Every time the boys did a “good deed”, they were able to put a piece of straw into the Baby’s “manger”. By the time Christmas arrived, He was surrounded and “warmed” with good deeds on a lovely bed of straw. Sweet memories of days long gone.

    Reply
  3. ChicagoSheila

    When I was about 13 years old I found all of my wrapped Christmas that my Mom had hidden and I carefully unwrapped enough of each package so that I knew what the present was, and then carefully put the wrapping back in place. On Christmas day, I unwrapped every present, and I discovered that I had already found every one of them. There were no surprises. Worst. Christmas. Ever. Now you can put my wrapped Christmas presents on the kitchen table and tell me not to look, and I will work and eat around those presents but I will not open them or even try to look under any circumstances…until Christmas day.

    Reply
  4. Penni

    Surprise ending! lol
    Every year we took our kids to a family gathering out of town that included all the cousins, uncles and aunts, and kept us at gramma and grampa’s house until very late on Christmas Eve. Each year on the ride home our kids would search the sky for Rudolph’s red nose blinking in the sky. One year we had made it all the way back home and not once during the 1.5 hour ride did they see Rudolph, and spirits were beginning to wain. We made the turn onto our street, and as we passed their friend Steven’s house we all saw Santa walking with his big red bag right up to Steven’s door! “SANTA IS AT STEVEN’S HOUSE!!!” They all lost their minds at that point! haha! Needless to say they all jumped into their pajamas and went to bed without delay!
    That was decades ago, but I still hear all my kids retell the time they saw Santa walking up to Steven’s house to their kids.

    Reply
  5. Kathie B

    I love the Christmas short story “The One-Legged Shepherd” [“O Pastor Manco”] by my Azorean friend Daniel de Sá (1944-2013), which my professor of Portuguese and I translated a decade ago:
    https://www.rtp.pt/acores/comunidades/daniel-de-sa-o-pastor-manco-the-one-legged-shepherd-translated-by-katharine-f-baker-bobby-j-chamberlain_40358
    Daniel also posted it on his own blog:
    http://oespolio.blogspot.com/2010/12/one-legged-shepherd.html

    Reply
  6. Lil

    When I was about 5 and my older sister was 9 we woke up very early on Christmas and quietly crept downstairs. We happily giggled and sorted the presents under the tree until we saw my parents’ note, ‘DON’T TOUCH THESE PRESENTS!’ We hurried to make it look like we hadn’t touched anything and ran back upstairs. I’m sure my parents heard the whole thing as their bedroom was next to the living room.

    Reply
  7. RebeccaNYC

    That’s the best Christmas story ever.

    Reply
  8. Diogenes

    In 1969, we went to the Christmas tree lot one cold December day. Flocked trees had just become the rage, and when I saw a 8′ tall white one, I just had to have it. My father bought it, tied it to the roof of the Ford Country Squire wagon, and drove it the short distance home. We decked it out in blue lights and silver ornaments and oh it was beautiful. The next day everyone had a rash except me. They were all allergic to the flocking. I loved that tree.

    Reply
  9. Texas Francophile

    Great story! Thanks for sharing🎄

    Reply
  10. Vicki Perkins

    Being one of four girls, Vicki, Becky, Barby and Kitty, you can imagine all the ways we tried to figure out what presents contained. Mom assigned each of us a color of ribbon which she announced on Christmas morning. We were 5.5 years apart, youngest to oldest. Four sweet little girls in choir robes singing Silent Night.
    Every year each of us drew the name of a sister to get a present. They were often handmade and rarely cost much. Kitty, age 6, drew Barby’s name. She remembered that Barby wanted a set of baby doll pajamas. On Christmas Day, she could barely contain herself until Barby opened her present. There in the box was a set of baby doll pajamas. When Barby held them up it was clear they were meant for a much older “girl”…indeed, they had fringe and sparkles, and no crotch. My mother, horrified, tried to keep her composure, asked where Kitty found the baby dolls. Kitty proudly announced she had found the ad in True Detective, a magazine my dad sold at his pharmacy. How did you pay for it, my Mom asked. I sent them my allowance money, Kitty proudly replied. Mom confiscated the baby dolls and wrote a scathing letter to the company. Did they not question the printing of a six year old? They returned Kitty’s money and mom took Kitty and Barby baby doll pajama shopping the next week. We still have a great laugh about it even after sixty years.
    We use the message function on our phones to group chat most days. This week it was Christmas cookies and candy…krumkake, chocolate crinkles, peppermint bark, mom’s soft ginger cookies…I could almost smell Grandma’s kitchen.

    Reply
  11. Jennie

    The best Xmas story ever!

    Reply
  12. Kathy

    Great story…family stories are the best and never fail to bring a smile and warm the heart! Merry Christmas, friend.❤️

    Reply
  13. Susie

    Oh my gosh, laughing out loud now. Please thank Zane for this bright sparkle n the day. Merriest of Christmases to all.

    Reply
  14. Marilyn

    When I was about 5 or 6 my mom, sister, grandpa, and I went to my cousins for Christmas. My cousin was about 3 and she wanted a doll very badly. The night before Christmas she peeked in a package under the tree and saw it was a doll. She was so excited until she found out it was for my sister and she didn’t get a doll. I never forgot that. She cried and cried and I felt so bad for her.

    Reply

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