About
a week before Christmas, the family bought a new
nativity set. When they unpacked it, they found
two figures of the Baby Jesus.
"Someone must have packed this wrong,"
the 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 is freezing out
there."
The
manager of the store copied down mother's
message and the next time they were in the store
they saw the cardboard sign that
read,
"If
you are missing Baby Jesus, call
7126."
All
week long they waited for someone to call.
Surely, they 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 to
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 the children.
"Surely someone will call," mother said.
"We'll just keep the two of them together in the
manger until someone calls."
When
no call had come by 5:00 p.m. 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," Tommy and Mary began
to put on their coats. Father gave a long sigh
and headed for the front closet.
"I
can't believe I'm doing this," he
muttered.
Tommy
and Mary ran ahead as father reluctantly walked
out in the cold. Mary got to the store first and
pressed her nose up to the store
window.
"They're all gone, Daddy," she shouted.
"Every set must be sold."
"Hooray" Tommy said. "The mystery will
now be solved tonight!"
Father heard the news still a half block
away and immediately turned on his heel and
headed back home. When they got back into the
house, they 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," my 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?" my 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
they 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, my 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?" my father asked.
"We
have just walked through below zero weather with
the wind in our faces all the way."
"Never mind all that now," my 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 doing washing and ironing for people and
cleaning 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 going' through my mind... 7162...
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, willing 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 missing Jesus,
mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am
missing 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 with wide eyed wonder
at the plate of cookies my mother sat 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," said the
woman..
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 were pulling
clothes out of their closets and toys off of
their shelves. It was long after their bedtime
when they were wrapping gifts. The pickup came.
On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and
gifts. Even though it was 30 below, Father let
them 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. If anyone has a
proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or
remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
