The Three Wise Men

  Would have made it about halfway to the manger by now! But they are somewhere in the garage along with the sheep, donkey, and Baby Jesus! And haven't made their annual trek for over ten years now!

  We celebrated our first Christmas with our daughter Hallie in China. She was 16 months old so it would have been her second. We had found a place that was holding a Christian Christmas Eve service not far from our hotel, but as it was our second day of being parents, we were gloriously exhausted well before it began at 11pm!

 This describes Christmas 2005- three years later! We set up the life sized stable I had built years before, ran the power the 150 feet to the end of our driveway, and put out the plastic lighted figures- Mary, Joseph, shepherds, donkey, sheep, and three wise men. The Star got hoisted up into the huge oak tree the manger sat under and the wise men were placed about 75 feet away! Of course the Baby Jesus hadn't gotten there yet!

 Hallie looked on and "helped" as she felt like it! She had been talking that first Christmas but now it was in english and 90 words a minute. She conveyed her displeasure with the wise men's distance from the rest of the group. The lights went on at dark and she was pleased- Advent had just begun!

 The next afternoon was the first, for her, of a tradition than continued for ten more years. We all went up before dark and the wise men moved a little closer to the stable! She carried the Wise Man of her choosing!

 These pictures are from the 2005 Christmas- a day before Christmas Eve with my brother Steve( who went to China with us), Elice his wife, and Hallie helping the Wise Men nearly to the end of their journey:   Their arrival Christmas Eve:   and the Baby Jesus showing up at midnight!

 Who knows? maybe someday I'll build another manger and get those precious Wal-mart figures out of the garage and start it all over! Until then, and forever, we will have the memory of that journey and the Baby Jesus Arrival!

And yes, I'm well aware the wise men didn't get there until after the birth of the Baby Jesus! Guess what? They were also walking northwest across our land to the Star! NOT to the east! I would also go out late at night and move one of them back occasionally, just to confuse Renee' and Hallie! It's MY nativity story and I told it the way I wanted to!😉😉😉