Caitlin and the Baby Jesus

I found a draft of a blog post I’d never published from last year. The title was “A Trip to the Irish Cribs.” I thought it would be fun to do a then and now kind of thing.

From December 2010:

One of the Irishman's favorite things to do at Christmas in Ireland is to visit the various nativity scenes (cribs) at churches around town. A few years back we took his neice from church to church to look at Baby Jesus. She was most concerned with his cold toes.

This picture is actually from Mass on Christmas Eve. I don't usually take pictures during Mass, but this one begged to be taken.

The crib at the church my husband grew up attending is in a room to the side. You can walk in and see the Baby Jesus. You also must take a small piece of hay with you. The Irishman keeps his in his wallet all year for luck.

After I went back to Florida they took Caitlin to visit a few other cribs.

This one is animatronic and moves. Morgan said Caitlin was impressed with that!

December 2011:

Caitlin has the Little Friends Nativity Set, so she is always pointing out Baby Jesus.

On Christmas day we moved her little Crib into the middle of our advent wreath. My grandmother gave us the Advent Wreath for Christmas this year along with a child friendly prayer book. The Irishman and I have loved adding this to our advent dinner routine….and though she is a little too young to understand it yet, Caitlin loves to blow out the candles!

While we weren’t in Ireland to tour the cribs, we decided to load the kids into the car and see 'Baby Jesus' at the local churches a few days after Christmas.

Some of the churches were open and empty. Some were locked on a Friday afternoon so we walked around enjoying the outdoor displays. By the fourth stop Caitlin was a bit cranky and had blisters on her feet from her shoes, but it was still a lot of fun to watch her reactions. I know the Irishman enjoyed the fact that we were able to honor his family tradition.

My grandmother has a lovely collection of nativity scenes throughout her house. She picked out three or four of them that she has put on a table for the kids to play with when they visit. My dad got some great photos of this when we were there the other night.

It is so much fun to see Christmas through the eyes of a child!