Here’s a story that introduces a super meaningful tradition that you can implement right away, as long as you already have a Nativity Set. We have a few. The nice porcelain one pictured above was a Christmas gift from my awesome sister-in-law Eve. When my children were super little or not even born, I bought a simple wooden one. That way I didn’t have to worry about anything breaking while they played with it. Then last year at our ward Christmas party each family got a sheet of cute magnetized laminated Nativity figures to cut out. So we’ve got that on the fridge. Then we have a felt set that doubles as an Advent calendar that I have on the front door. As we count down the days to Christmas, Mary and Joseph  move towards the stable. Then on Christmas Day we assemble the whole crew in the stable.

I’m hoping everyday to post a Christmas story that is linked to lds.org from my new ebook called the Celestial Guide to Family Devotionals, which will come out soon. Yesterday, I read this story called “Waiting for Jesus” to my kiddos for our devotional and we loved it. The basic idea is that you leave Baby Jesus out of your nativity set until Christmas Day. Then every time you see the empty spot you are reminded that we are waiting for Jesus to come again, just like people of long ago waited for Jesus to be born. What are we doing to show every day that we believe in the prophecies of Jesus, both for His First and Second Comings? Are we being kinder and more loving?

The story, “Waiting for Jesus,” comes from the December 2013 Friend. Here’s the first part:

Katie rummaged through the storage box, carefully looking through the crumpled packing paper. She still couldn’t find what she was looking for.

She put everything back in the box and went to find Mom.

Katie had looked behind the piano, under the couch, even in Thomas’s crib. It was lost. She had to tell Mom.

“Mommy, the baby Jesus is lost!”

Read the rest of the story here. Then go tuck away your Baby Jesus so you can put it in the Nativity Set on Christmas Day. Just remember where you put it! Maybe take a picture with your phone so you don’t forget!

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