from the mind of a child...

We finished decorating our Christmas tree tonight and Tonia broke out What God wants for Christmas!-- "an interactive kid-friendly nativity scene". It's quite nice-- rhyming paraphrases of the relevant Scriptures, attractive figures and a workable manger as props. The story unfolds as one opens box after box-- with each of the primary characters emerging to play their role.

At the end, the narrative box for #7 asks what God wants for Christmas-- and you look inside to see that there's only a mirror in the bottom of the box. You see yourself and "realize" that God wants you! It's a little corny, but it works for kids....well, at least kids who are able to abstract away from a literal interpretation of the prop.

We showed it to Joseph (4) and Daniel (3). We asked the key question (what does God want for Christmas). Both of them looked inside the box and answered "a mirror"! Then, we asked Daniel who was "in there" and he said "no one".

It was difficult to argue with both of those answers... ;-)