Saturday, December 18, 2010

Teaching the Christmas Story (Christmas Club #5)


For this week's installment of Christmas Club, an exercise in which Sian of From High in the Sky, encourages blog friends to share tales of Christmas past, I offer this layout from 2001 in which it becomes obvious that at least one of my children is just a little unclear on the concept of Christmas:
Las Posadas is a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration, in which members of the community dress up as Mary and Joseph, innkeepers and towns folk to re-enact the events of the very first Christmas Eve.  A procession, led by Mary and Joseph, goes to several pre-selected locations and asks for shelter.  They are repeatedly turned away, until finally they are admitted at the last location (usually the Church or Church hall) and a party is held.  Attendees carry candles and sing songs (in Spanish) pleading for shelter and lamenting the fact that the family has no place to stay.  This layout shows the Posadas celebration we attended with my sister in southern California.
Afterwards we went back to the Church to look at the Nativity.  Like many Churches, baby Jesus is not placed in the scene until Christmas morning, and the Wise Men do not show up until Ephiphany.  Clara was disturbed by the empty cradle; you can see her pointing to it in the lower left hand photo.  When she asked where the baby was, Henry assured her that he would be there on Christmas morning.  Clara frowned and continued to look puzzled, until finally you could see a light bulb go off in her little head.  She smiled, gave a firm nod, and said, "Oh, Santa's bringing him" 

17 comments:

  1. Rinda, you have done very well documenting past Christmas events and celebrations and really, your two gorgeous children are super adorable! I have thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing with you over these past few weeks ... not long now until the big day :-)

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  2. Really, really lovely Rinda - and the last line made me laugh! :-)

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  3. I, too, got quite a chuckle at the last line. Years ago, our church did a La Posada musical at the holidays. I had forgotten all about it.

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  4. Definately a memory to bring a smile,Rinda....have so enjoyed your memories each week.

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  5. i am sooooooooooo glad some people respect that jesus doesn't go into the manger until xmas morning. im still trying to convince my parents not to put him in and even in the church he's already there. what is the world coming to.
    i can see why clara thinks santa brings him in as a lovely present for mary and joseph. how sweet,
    Jo xxx

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  6. Love your page memory of such a wonderful time! Beautiful!

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  7. Just wonderful - a perfect story to finish CC with this year. Where it all began!

    Rinda, I want to thank you for the enthusiasm and Christmas spirit you have been bringing to CC every week. It has been an absolute pleasure to visit every Sunday and a joy to share your Christmas memories. Merry Christmas Rinda!

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  8. Great layout! What a lovely way to showcase your memories!

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  9. Lovely memories. I set up my nativity each year without the baby Jesus. Truth be told, I hide him in the manger and put him out on Christmas Morning. One year I forgot to put him in the cradle and felt just awful. :)

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  10. I love this post, Rinda. :o) And it's fun to see the photo of your young family. xo

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  11. What a lovely story. And lovely pictures to document it too.
    Happy Christmas Rinda!

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  12. This is a beautiful story Rinda I loved learning about Las Posadas, thank you. Happy Christmas to you x

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  13. What a great story and such a nice layout to remember it by.

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  14. I LOVE Posadas but the only one we could attend over the last few years was Placita Olvera in down town Los Angeles. It was hard for my boys to grasp the concept with such a HUGE crowd. This year, however, my sister in law has agreed to make a Posada celebration at her house. My boys are going to participate, I've already made their costumes. I can't wait, specially because the boys will be able to really experience it and be part of it.

    Hope you're having a great day.

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  15. I had never heard of Posadas before reading your blog - one of the great things about blogs is discovering traditions from other parts of the world. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

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  16. I love this post Rinda and had to chuckle at the last line!

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  17. Such a lovely story Rinda and the last line is so cute and made me smile x

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