Christmas in the barn, Year One

Yesterday, we began what I assume will become an annual tradition-- taking our children to a barn to tell them the Christmas story. We went to Rope's barn, and he had graciously prepared for us by putting their donkey (Jack) in one of the stalls. Kevin hauled a bale of hay into one of the other stalls, and we put a blanket on the ground, and settled in for the "telling." I brought a manger scene so the boys could put the players on display as we got to them, and we read them the story from a Bible Board book with pictures. We sang some Christmas carols, and we prayed-- the boys pet the donkey, and took turns sitting on its back-- and it was all very picturesque. Well, except perhaps that I forgot to note, that the boys are 3 and 1, and they were very distracted by the fun of a dirt floor, the tractors, and kitty-cats. And while putting the figures into the manger scene, they discovered that it was really more fun to DIG with them, and/or smash them into one another like UFC fighters. It was like the Battle of Bethlehem. Several years from now, when we look back at the first Christmas we went to the barn, we will surely laugh with nostalgia about wonderful chaos and unpredictability of this age.