If You're Missing Baby Jesus

 

Hello and Merry CHRISTmas to you!! 

2024 was a toppsy turny year for Lou and I.  It started out with radiation treatments for lou while he worked on those new locks for Campus Towers.  Then it was off to the races to get ready for our Alaskan cruise and our trip to North Dakota.  I had one week to unpack from the cruise, repack and load up the van.  We thought we’d be gone two weeks …  instead we were away for almost three months.  We had FUN!!

I would like to share a beautiful Christmas story with you.  It takes place in North Dakota in 1943. This family had moved to a small town in the oil fields and while unpacking realized that their nativity scene had gotten lost in the move.  The mother found a small manager set at the five-and-dime for $3.99. She selected one box from the others in the window. When they got home and unboxed it they found TWO baby Jesus’ inside instead of just one.  “Oh dear,” the mom exclaimed, “Someone will be missing baby Jesus!”  Obviously if there were two in this box, there would be none in one of the other boxes. 

She went back to the store and asked if anyone had complained about missing baby Jesus in their set. Not yet they told her. So she had them post a sign in the window by the remaining boxes, “If you are missing Baby Jesus call 7165.”  She waited the rest of that day and all day the next for her phone to ring but no one called to ask about baby Jesus.

Now It was Christmas Eve and it was really bothering her that no one had called.  Maybe the missing Jesus belonged in one of the remaining sets in the store window.  She asked her husband to go down to the store and see how many boxes were left in the window.  Going out in this cold on an errand wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do but she wasn’t going to be content until she knew.  His two children wanted to go along with him and he could tell they weren’t going to take no for an answer so all three bundled up. It wasn’t a long walk. When they got to the store, the store was closed for the day but there wasn’t a single box left.

Back they went to give the report but when they arrived home the house was empty. Where could their mother have gone??  It wasn’t long and the phone rang.  “I bet it’s someone calling about baby Jesus!” the children said in excitement, but instead it was their mom.  “Let me talk to your father.”  They handed the phone to dad.  In a tense-no-non-sense tone she told him to grab the gallon of milk, the plate of cookies on the table, some blankets and hurry to 602 Chestnut street.  She wasn’t explaining why and with that tone of voice he knew better than to waste time asking questions.

The wind had picked up a little and with the temperature dropping they hurried to walk the 8 blocks from their house to where they needed to go.  When they arrived they found a cold house but after their mom opened the door to let them in she quickly instructed their dad to try to get the oil furnace going.  She told her daughter to take the milk and the cookies to the kitchen and she told her young son to take the blankets into the living room and wrap the blankets around the children on the couch.    There were three small children with their young mother huddled together trying to keep warm.

No father for the children?  No husband in the house?  The young mother explained that sadly, he had left them just a few weeks before and had taken everything with him.  They had no warm bedding and very little food.  She had been taking in laundry and had been cleaning the five-and-dime at night to try to earn what she needed for herself and the children.  When their furnace went out and the house started getting cold she just kept remembering the sign in the window, “If you’re missing baby Jesus call 7165.”  She called asking for help and mom went there to see if she could. 

By now the furnace was going.  There was a little bit of warmth in the room.  The mother had heated the milk and placed the plate of cookies on the table.  As the young mother and all the children gathered they saw the Baby Jesus on the plate.  He wasn’t meant for anyone else.  He was meant to be here and this family was able to take Him to the ones that needed Him.

“Are you willing…

To stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children;

To remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old;

To stop asking yourself whether you love them enough;

To bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts;

To trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you;

To make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feeling, with the gate open?

Are you willing to do these things for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas… After all, Christmas-living is the best kind of Christmas-giving.”

HENRY VAN DYKE

 

The rest of the story goes on… the dad quickly made a few phone calls and soon others were coming with needed items for the home, food as well as warm clothing and Love. Much Love.

If this story sounds familiar it’s from, If You’re Missing Baby Jesus, written by Jean Gietzen

Wishing you Joy and Blessings in the New Year and Always,

Lou and Kathy Aschenbrenner