Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Other Side of Christmas

Our nativities are beautiful.

Even when we briefly lament that there was "no room for them in the inn" and that Jesus had to be born in a stable, our nativities are clean, peaceful, idyllic. We imagine the animals keeping watch and the wonder as the shepherds come. We think of little woolly lambs.

But it probably wasn't clean. Because stables smell, we can assume it was smelly. Joseph was probably frantic trying to make a bed in the straw and figure out how he was going to deliver the baby when that was usually left to other women. There were probably bugs.

I don't share that to ruin all nativities for you. We can go back to those pristine images in a bit, but bear with me for a moment.

I'm posting at the Internet Cafe today. Click here to read the rest!






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