The cows in the stable came to see Baby Jesus, because Old MacDonald had a farm

Merry Christmas!

As I noted in our last entry, Jonathan is enjoying learning about the Christmas Story, seeing Baby Jesus with his Mommy Mary and his Daddy Joseph along with all the animals, shepherds, and the three kings. Tonight we enjoyed our church's Children's Christmas Service, put on by the youth. They did a great job of re-telling the Christmas story. Abigail, as the only baby in attendance tonight, was chosen to play the role of Baby Jesus. Jonathan gets quite worried to see anyone but Mommy or Daddy hold his baby sister, which meant he kept calling after Mary, "Mommy hold Baby Abby! Mommy hold Baby Abby!" After a few reminders that Baby Abby was just pretending to be Baby Jesus for the Christmas play, he piped down to watch. Shortly thereafter, he was given an opportunity to participate as one of the stable animals, which he declined with nervous skepticism, moving back one row to sit in my lap for safety. He was excited to see the other kids in animal costume, though, and was quick to join in when the hymns started. Unfortunately, Away in the Manger isn't among the Christmas songs I've been teaching him (guess it just hadn't come to mind), so his idea of participating, upon seeing the scene before us, was to sing loud and clear, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm, E-I-E-I-O!" while the congregation of parents and children sang a sweet rendition of Away in the Manger. Since the baby in our family is a little girl, Jonathan has been quite insistent that Baby Jesus is a girl. I'm afraid tonight's performance isn't going to help my case.

The pictures aren't the best, but here are a few: