Hanging on the mantle were several Christmas stockings.
Right above them was a tiny wooden manger scene cut out of a single piece of cedar wood.
Standing in front of it were two small children staring expectantly as if something was about to happen.
I’m sure this scene has been played out so many times over the years as multitudes of children anticipate the arrival of Christmas and presents.
The children in the opening scene were my grandchildren early last December.
I caught one of them squeezing the bottom of each stocking to see if there was
anything in them yet.
They were all still empty, as they had been since the day we hung them.
It won’t be until Christmas Day that the stockings will be full to overflowing.
The disappointment of not feeling a single item inside any of the stockings could be seen on
Morgan’s and Julie’s faces.
“Why isn’t there anything in them yet Grampus?” he asked, as he glanced at the over decorated Christmas tree that was also bereft of any gifts under its boughs.
The stockings would hang there for weeks, empty, and still every day they will get a squeeze from the same two inquisitive children with high hopes.
I reminded them every morning, “There won’t be anything in them until Christmas morning.”
So they would take hold of the wooden manger scene and play with it, putting each piece together carefully and talking about Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.
“Why do angels have wings and people don’t?”
“How come there isn’t a Christmas tree there in the stable?”
“Did Jesus have a special stocking for Christmas?”
“Why do we hang stockings up anyway?”
“Why do we have to wait till Christmas Day?”
So many questions, and what a fantastic opportunity to talk with your children about that first Christmas morning.
The tree and the stockings decorating our homes can help us remember the amazing truths about Christmas.
Long before the first Christmas, people were waiting for Jesus to arrive just as we look at the empty stockings and giftless trees in our home, and await the gifts that will be filling them on Christmas morning.
God’s people awaited the arrival of Jesus for years. Centuries before the birth of Jesus, God made a promise to Abraham about the coming Messiah.
He said to Abraham, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3 NIV). God told David that one of his descendants would be a savior (Jeremiah 23:5–6) and that this descendent would sit on a throne forever and ever (Jeremiah 33:17).
God even promises in the book of Micah that this great King will come from the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
Throughout the Old Testament there are promises foretelling the coming of the Christ.
Over the years, people eagerly awaited the coming Savior. God’s promise to send the Messiah hung above His people’s heads like an empty stocking waiting for Christmas morning when it would be filled.
What God did on that first Christmas morning 2000 years ago was to place the greatest gift of all—not in a stocking or under a tree, but in a manger—awaiting an invitation into our hearts.
As Christmas draws near with all its hustle and bustle, parties and presents galore, prayerfully consider how you will share the truth with your children about this season of joyful expectation of the coming Messiah, as they wait for the greatest gift of all.
Jesus.