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A Beautiful Christmas Story

About a week before Christmas, Mom bought a new nativity scene. When she
unpacked it, she found two figures of the Baby Jesus.

"Someone must have packed this wrong," Mother said, counting out the
figures. "We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds,
two lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose
some set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have two.

"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an
extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if a
set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. Put on your warm coats, it's
freezing cold out there." The manager of the store copied down Mother's
message, and the next time we were in the store, we saw the cardboard sign
that read, "If you're missing Baby Jesus, call 7126." All week long we
waited for someone to call. Surely, we thought, someone was missing that
important figurine.

Each time the phone rang, Mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus."
But it never was. Father tried to explain there are thousands of these
scattered over the country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in
Florida or Texas or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time.
He suggested that she just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget
about it.

"Put Baby Jesus back in the box?! What a terrible thing to do," said
Mother. "Surely someone will call. We'll just keep the two of them together
in the manger until someone does." When no call had come by 5:00 on
Christmas Eve, Mother insisted that Father "just run down to the store" to
see if there were any sets left. "You can see them right through the
window, over on the counter," she said. "If they are all gone, I'll know
someone is bound to call tonight."

"Run down to the store?" Father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out there!"

"Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you!" We began to put on our coats.

Father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't believe
I'm doing this," he muttered. We ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out
in the cold.

Tommy got to the store first and pressed his nose up to the store window.
"They're all gone, Daddy," he shouted. "Every set must be sold. Hooray! The
mystery will be solved tonight!"

Father heard the news still a half block away and immediately turned on his
heel and headed back home. When we got back into the house, we noticed that
mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.

"Someone must have called, and she went out to deliver the figurine,"
father reasoned, pulling off his boots. "You kids get ready for bed while I
wrap mother's present." Then the phone rang. Father yelled "answer the
phone and tell 'em we found a home for Jesus." But it was mother calling
with instructions for us to come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and
bring three blankets, a box of cookies and some milk..

"Now what has she gotten us into?" father groaned as we bundled up again.
"205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk up good in the
blankets, or it will turn to ice before we get there. Why can't we all just
get on with Christmas? It's probably 20 below out there now. And the wind
is picking up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this."

When we got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest one on
the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living room, and the moment we
set foot on the porch steps, mother opened the door and shouted, "They're
here! Oh thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take those blankets into the
living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch. I'll take the milk
and cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" father asked. "We have
just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all the
way."

"Never mind all that now," mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this
house, and this young mother is so upset, she doesn't know what to do. Her
husband walked out on her, and those poor little children will have a very
bleak Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil
furnace in a jiffy. My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk
while my brother and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled
together on the couch. The children's mother explained to my father that
her husband had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece
of furniture, but she had been doing all right until the furnace broke
down. "I been doin' washin' an ironin' for people and cleanin' the five and
dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the
counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept goin' through my mind.
7162. Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call
you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help
folks. I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I stopped at the
grocery store tonight, and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus,
mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no
money to fix that furnace."

"Okay, okay," said Father. "You've come to the right place. Now let's see.
You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be
too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what
it needs."

Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and warm milk.
As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of Baby
Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of Christmas
in the house. The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of
cookies my mother set before them.

Father finally got the oil burner working but said, "You need more oil.
I'll make a few calls tonight and get some oil. Yes sir, you came to the
right place." Father grinned.

On the way home, Father did not complain about the cold weather and had
barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone. "Ed, hey, how are
ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say Ed, we have kind of an
unusual situation here. I know you've got that pick-up truck. Do you still
have some oil in that barrel on your truck? You do?" By this time the rest
of the family was pulling clothes out of their closets and toys off of
their shelves. It was long after our bedtime when we were wrapping gifts.
The pickup came. On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and gifts. Even
though it was 30 below, father let us ride along in the back of the truck.
No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but as I
grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all. Jesus saves,
that's what He does.

Author Unknown

Sorry I Can't Send You A Tissue

Peace~~Have a Blessed Christma!