{"id":1114,"date":"2013-12-27T09:23:11","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T14:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baburkard.com\/crochet\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2013-12-27T16:55:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T21:55:24","slug":"the-true-story-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/baburkard.com\/crochet\/the-true-story-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘true’ story of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a world of\u00a0difference between truth and facts. Facts can\u00a0obscure the truth.\u00a0<\/em>Maya Angelou<\/p>\n

Does it really matter if the Christmas story is factual? If a pregnant Mary really rode on a donkey and gave birth in a stable? If shepherds did, in fact, see choirs of angels? If a star actually guided Wise Men to the infant?<\/p>\n

The truth, for Christians, is that God truly experienced human life, not as a king or a mighty warrior, but as a vulnerable baby born to a teenage mom, a refugee, one of the undeserving poor.<\/p>\n

Growing up in a farming family of ten kids Christmas was not the commercial venture it is now. We rarely had a Christmas tree, though we did have a few decorations and lights. We also had a creche (which did not survive ten children). A Christmas Eve tradition was listening to a dramatized Christmas story on a LP record. My mother, who had two babies at the beginning of January did not enjoy thinking of riding a donkey in her state! We may each have received a gift (before we reached our teen years), and we all received a plate of candy, nuts, an orange and grapes — a wonderful treat! — on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n

\"Burkard<\/a>
Burkard family creche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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My in-laws had quite different customs. I learned there about Advent and Advent candles. When Volker was young it was the Christ Child who came on Christmas Eve while the family was at church and left behind a beautiful tree and gifts. His family too had a creche, but it was not touched by children.<\/p>\n

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When Simon was born I decided I wanted a creche that children could play with. When he was two years old I found a pattern in a magazine and over the next several years I made the pieces.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/a>
Small friends play with the creche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have since lost the pattern, but these little bean-bag dolls have been played with by many children over the years. (A dear friend from the Middle East refers to the shepherds and Wise Men as the Mullahs and\u00a0Ayatollahs.) I am so thrilled that now my grandchildren will also have that opportunity.<\/p>\n

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