A Visual Christmas Story

Okay - I'll warn you now I'm not 'crafty', though I do consider myself 'creative'. The kids and I just decided yesterday that we'd go ahead and decorate a bit for Christmas. Since my parents will be here in 8 days now, and we'll be gone over Christmas I thought it wasn't really worth it to go all out and decorate. But heck, we are here for 21 days (6 of which have already passed) and so we went for it! As I was trying to come up with a new way to use the bulbs and bits that would normally go on a tree (we don't have a fake one and we're not buying a real one) I had a glass vase out and a bunch of stuff lying around. Helena started stuffing things into the vase and then it clicked - I had a very good idea! Or at least the kids and I thought so. So here you go... our visual Christmas Story. See if you can figure it out just by looking at it.

(I'll give you a hint. Each ribbon represents a character from the biblical account of the Christmas story mostly from Luke 1:26-36; 2:1-18 and Matthew 1:18-2:12)

Okay, we started with Mary (red gingham), the virgin in Galilee. The angel (gold glitter) went to her and said "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." He then proceeded to tell her she would be with child and give birth to a son whose name will be Jesus - "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." Though she was confused she agreed - "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Then she had to explain it to her fiance - Joseph (red, white, green stripe) who, "being a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, had in mind to divorce her quietly." But an angel visited him in a dream to explain the whole thing and they carried on with their plans for marriage.

At that same time, there was a census going on throughout the Roman world, so Joseph and Mary had to go from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem - the town of David. This was a long journey with very pregnant Mary on a donkey (raffia). Once they got there, the accommodation was already filled up so they ended up in a stable - where the animals were feeding. It was there that Jesus was born! He was wrapped in cloth and placed in a manger (gold strips). There were shepherds (green paper) watching their flocks that night, when an angel appeared to them "and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'" Then more angels appeared (more gold glitter ribbon). Then the shepherds ran to see Jesus in the stable and then hurried around telling other people what they had been told! 

Next, we meet the wise men who come from the East following a star. They arrive to find a toddler Jesus and give him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (brown ribbon). 

And our response? We've found this 'pearl' of great value - this love and acceptance and forgiveness that God provided in the gift of Jesus and have chosen to put our faith in Him and follow Him. 

Merry Christmas!