Baby Jesus

J.D. and I played Baby Jesus and Mary at church on Wednesday night for the 3-5 year old class. (We were calling him "Baby J.D.-sus") They were having a birthday party for Jesus and were celebrating his birth. Each of the kids brought a gift from home to give to "Jesus." Anna Lee chose an Ariel doll. She was insistent that he have a princess. Figures. It was so sweet to watch the kids love on J.D., give him his presents, and sing songs to him. J.D. loved listening to the songs and he was amazingly still while the different groups of kids were in front of him. It was a really special moment. Hard to imagine what Mary actually experienced so long ago.



This roleplay was very difficult for Anna Lee. But not because of how you would expect. During Christmas, my mom was with Anna Lee one evening and pretended that she was Gabriel and Anna Lee was Mary. Since that time, Anna Lee has pretended that our family was Jesus' family. Anna Lee was Mary, J.D. was Baby Jesus, Jim was Joseph...and I was a shepherd. Most evenings during the holidays, Anna Lee would say, "Hey Shepherd, when is Joseph going to be home from work?" We even played Memory one night and Anna Lee insisted on calling me "by name" when asking what cards I had. i.e. "Shepherd, do you have a Cinderella card?"

So when I told Anna Lee that I was going to be Mary, she was not happy. We discussed it all week and she was very upset that I was switching up the roles. On the way to church, Anna Lee quietly said, "Mommy, you can be Mary tonight." I was glad to have the permission...just in time.

She did such a good job while all of the kids were looking at and singing to J.D. I thought she even looked a little proud.