My husband spent yesterday afternoon looking for an extension cord for the small Christmas tree in the living room. In this process of looking for the extension cord he found my grandmother’s manger set. I haven’t set it up for years because, well, I have 5 children and didn’t want it broken.
My husband decided that now that the children are a little older we should have the manger set up. So, he set the manger up on the table by the front door. He put the Baby Jesus and Mary in the stable but he set Joseph and the 3 wise men along with the camels and a cow outside the manger looking in. Not your normal set up. Well, this caused some confusion with the neighbor’s daughter who is 4 years old. She walked past the manger on her way out the door to go home and noticed the strange set up of the manager. She looked at my husband and asked “Where is the Daddy?” Now my husband, being the devout Muslim that he is, said, “There is no daddy.”
Now begins the confusion:
4 year old neighbor (whose family is Mormon): “But where’s the daddy?”
My Husband: “There is no daddy. God willed Jesus to be born. It was a miracle called the Immaculate Conception.” Now, how many of you knew Islam believed in the Imaculate Conception? I didn't and I've been married to this man and dealing with this culture for 20 years all together.
Princess (my 6 year old) after pondering this for a moment: “Well then who is Joseph, Mary’s boyfriend?”
My husband (wondering how he got himself in this mess): “No, Joseph was Mary’s husband, but he is not Jesus’ daddy. Jesus did not have a daddy.”
Princess: “So, Joseph was Jesus’ Step-daddy?”
My husband: “Well, sort of.”
Princess (who, by the way, had announced that Frosty the Snowman has a wife named Sally so now they can have children just this past Sunday): “So, how was Jesus born if he didn’t have a daddy?”
My Husband (really trying to keep a straight face): “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy because God willed Jesus to be born.”
4 year old neighbor: “But where’s the daddy?”
My husband (giving up before he digs himself in any deeper): “I think you need to go ask your Mom about that.”
He then walked her home, but did not warn her mother about the conversation that had taken place. I gave her a call later that evening because I felt I should warn her. I just knew that this Sunday in the middle of church that lovely little girl is going to repeat her interpretation of the story of Baby Jesus as told to her by Mr. M. I can just hear it now. “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy. Mr. M told me so. Did you know Joseph was Mary’s boyfriend? ” I like my neighbors, so I thought I should try to give them the heads up. My neighbor thanked me for letting her know because her daughter didn’t say a word about it after she walked in the front door. The neighbor said she would go over the story of Jesus with her girls tonight just to be safe. She also pointed out that my husband could spared himself all of this if he had just set Joseph in the stable next to the Baby Jesus. I giggled and said that I had already pointed that out. He agreed that next time he would just stick to the standard set up.
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