Within a very few days we will celebrate once again the birthday of our Saviour and we do so with great joy and happiness, because his life brings meaning, purpose and hope into all our lives.

This is also the time of year when parents enjoy attending the school Nativity play and also the works of art that their children bring home to adorn the kitchen walls during this festive season. Before she retired and took ill, my wife Ellen was a primary school teacher and I had an understanding boss who allowed me time off to attend her school Nativity plays each year and I must admit some of the things that the children did and said were hilarious.

This is a true story about a local primary school and the children who had been asked to illustrate the Christmas story. The children were all hard at work with their drawings and the teacher walked round the classroom giving a word of praise here and there to the industrious children. Then she noticed one small paint-splattered child examining her work with a
puzzled look on her face. The child had produced a large, very colourful effort full of adoring shepherds, kneeling kings and assorted animals gathered around the crib. “That’s very good Jane,” said the teacher, “But what’s that big white ball resting in the manger?” “Well miss, that’s the egg,” the child replied confidently. “But what’s the egg for?” asked the curious teacher. Looking fed up, the child replied, “That’s the egg baby Jesus hatched out of.” “But baby Jesus didn’t hatch out of an egg, whatever gave you that idea,” smiled the teacher. “But miss you did,” said the little girl, her forehead creasing into a frown and her bottom lip starting to quiver. “But when did I say that?” inquired the puzzled teacher. With a look of grim determination the little girl replied, “Yesterday in class you told us all that Mary laid the Baby Jesus in a manger.”

Another important person at Christmas for most children is the old man with the beard who brings all the presents each year. One day a five year old came home from school all excited and started telling her parents all about Father Christmas. She told her dad that Santa lived in the North Pole and delivered all the presents on a sleigh pulled by six radiators. Her father smiled and said to his wife, “No wonder you can never find a plumber when you want one.”

Wishing all my readers the Blessings of Christmas and I hope to inform and amuse you again next year.

Best Wishes. Ken.