Will The Christ Child Come?

Will the Christ Child Come?

Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there was a knock at the door.  We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful ceramic lamb inside.  We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days of Christmas were beginning!!  We waited excitedly for the next night’s surprise and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that the lamb was part of a nativity set.  Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive.  Each was exquisitely beautiful.  The kids kept trying to catch the givers as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ’s birth.

On Christmas Eve all the pieces were in place but the Baby Jesus.  My 12 year old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began to devise all kinds of ways to trap them.  He ate his dinner in in the minivan watching and waiting, but no one came.

Finally we called him in to go through our family’s Christmas Eve traditions.  But before the kids went to bed we checked the front step.  No Baby Jesus!  We began to worry that my son had scared them off.  My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus and there wouldn’t be anything coming.  Somehow, something was missing that Christmas Eve.

There was a feeling that things weren’t complete.  The kids went to bed and I put out Christmas, but before I went to bed I again checked to see if the Jesus had come.  No, the doorstep was empty.  In our family the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they have to wait to open any presents until Dad wakes up.  So one by one they woke up early, and I also woke up to watch them.

Even before they opened their stockings, each child checked to see if perhaps during the night the Baby Jesus had come.  Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect.  At least it changed my focus.  I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling of waiting for the ceramic Christ Child.

We had opened just about all of the presents when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree.  He handed me a small package from a former visiting teaching companion.  This sister was somewhat less active in the church.  I had learned over time they didn’t have much for Christmas, so that their focus was the children.  It sounded like she didn’t get many gifts to open, so I had always given her a small package – new dish towels, the next year’s lesson manual- not much, but something for her to open.  I was touched when at church on the day before Christmas, she had given me this small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation.

As I took off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this year giving me a gift.  But as the paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry.  There in the small brown box was the Baby Jesus.  He had come!

I realized on that Christmas Day that Christ will come into our lives in ways that we don’t expect.  The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another.  We had waited and watched for him to come, expecting the dramatic “knock at the door and scurrying of feet,” but he came in a small, simple package that represented service, friendship, gratitude and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Savior.  But we will most likely find him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship and service that we give to each other.  This Christmas I was to feel again the joy of knowing that Christ is in our home.  I want to focus on loving and serving.  More than that, I want to open my heart to Him all year that I may see him again.

Written by:  Gaye Willis

This was the story that was given at our Christmas musical fireside.  Gaye Willis is a friend of Garth and Sandy Hamblin, mission office couple and close friends to President and Sister Tupou, and this is the story she wrote about her experience.  A friend of their family who doesn’t read music wrote a song about this event that was transcribed by sister Hamblin.  Sandy recorded this piece of music and gave it to her friend Gaye for Christmas.  This song was performed at our Christmas fireside.  It touched many people’s hearts that night and Sandy’s rendition was beautiful.

Where Was Jesus?

A loving husband did his best to find A place to lay their heads that cold dark night.  But no matter where they looked no place to stay, Until they found a stable filled with hay.  Shepherds left their flocks and came to see A birth that angels promised them would be- Lowing cattle lying in their bed A newborn star shone brightly overhead.  Where was Jesus, baby Jesus The one the father would send to earth to save us.  Would he come just like the prophets had foretold?  Would they really wrap a king in swaddling clothes?  The others all stood waiting in their place, but they hadn’t looked into the Christ child’s face.

The family all together ‘round the tree  Wondering just what this gift might be.  The second gift helped us to understand.  The scene that came that night from Bethlehem.  Each night we waited for our gift to come.  We couldn’t help but wonder tonight which one will come to take his place among the meek.  The King of Kings that each had come to seek.  Where was Jesus baby Jesus The one the father would send to earth to save us  Would he come just like the prophets had foretold?  Would they wrap the King in swaddling clothes?  The others all stood waiting in their place, but they hadn’t gazed into the Christ child’s face.

Christmas morn the children took their place.  The sadness on each little child’s face, That the night before the Christ had failed to come, bringing peace and joy to our little happy home.  Presents all unwrapped beneath the tree.  One more left, alittle one for me  A simple present from a special friend.  To show us that His love would never end.  There was Jesus, baby Jesus, The one the father would send to earth to save us.  He had come just like the prophets had foretold the King of Kings wrapped in swaddling clothes The others all stood waiting in their place,  as we finally gazed into the Christ child’s face.