Straw for Baby Jesus!

Rosemary Bodgan shares her family's Advent tradition of creating a soft bed for Baby Jesus by Christmas morning.

Let every heart prepare him room! Advent is upon us! Already!

One of my favorite family Advent traditions was filling the manger with straw for the Baby Jesus. For this purpose, we had a manger and baby Jesus figure that was bigger than the one in our Nativity scene. I purchased the set of manger and Baby Jesus at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan. At Bronner’s, by the way, as you leave the register you will always hear, “Merry Christmas!” No generic holidays there. Items can also be purchased online.

We put the empty manger on the table, near the Advent wreath. Next to it was a small box of straw. I would tell the children that for every good deed they did and for every sacrifice made for Jesus, they could put a piece of straw in the manger. The goal was for the manger to be full of straw by Christmas morning so the Baby Jesus would be warm.

Children love concrete representations of spiritual truths. While they may not be able to express it, they understand quite deeply. They understand the concepts of goodness and self-sacrifice. They comprehend what it means to love.

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At first my children benefitted from examples of straw-worthy acts:

Picking up toys without being told, or putting something that is out of place where it belongs
Sharing something you really don’t feel like sharing
Helping someone with a job that is their job and not yours
Asking Mom if there’s anything you can do to help her
Sharing part of your lunch with someone who forgot to bring theirs
Obeying Mom or Dad the first time you are told
Playing with someone on the playground who is alone or maybe lonely
Being especially kind to a sibling or friend who is having a hard day
Saying hello and waving to a neighbor, even if you feel a little embarrassed
Spending extra time in prayer
Going to Confession (for those old enough)

At first the little ones had questions as to what would constitute a sacrifice or good deed. I always tried to be very generous. If it was any kind of sacrifice at all they would get a straw. If it was a big sacrifice, they could earn two straws. As they got older, I told them you don’t have to tell me what it is. If you think you did something good just put the straw in.

Click to tweet:
This Advent, let's purposefully prepare our own hearts and show our little ones how to do the same. #catholicmom

Eventually, I started joining in.

Examples of straw-worthy deeds for adults:

Spending extra time in prayer
Going to Confession
Skipping dessert
Leaving the last bit of food on my plate
More serious fasting
Giving up what is sometimes idle but enjoyable activities, like social media
Completing a task that has been put off for a while
Calling a friend just to see how they are
Engaging in conversations with strangers in the grocery line
Making an effort to smile more
Attending daily Mass more often
Giving to charity
Giving time to a worthy endeavor
Doing some extra spiritual reading

As Francis Fernandez has written in his wonderful daily meditations on Advent and Christmastide,

And we should also try to fill the day with short acts of thanksgiving and spiritual communions. In this way, little by little, we will form a habit, so that in work or play, in family life, in whatever we do, our hearts will be centered on God.

The Church gives us four weeks to contemplate the wonder of God’s Incarnation and to prepare our hearts to receive Him. Let us make the best use of that time by purposefully preparing our own hearts and showing our little ones how to do the same.

In the Collect of Mass yesterday, the First Sunday of Advent, we prayed:

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.

May we remain forever in awe of the miracle of God with us. Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel.

What are some favorite Advent traditions in your family? Are there new ones you would like to start?

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