Like many families with young children, TerriLu and I tried to teach our four kids the true meaning of Christmas. This included a dramatic production that rivaled a low-budget Broadway production. One year we built a stable for the set, but got a little carried away with the plans—the stable ended up being so large we could barely fit it in the family room. Given the stable’s quality construction and enormous size, we seriously considered selling the house and moving into our makeshift barn.

To help teach the principle of service and especially service for Jesus, TerriLu came up with a brilliant tradition for the holidays. She filled a box with artificial straw made from varying lengths of gold-colored ribbon. Every time the kids did something helpful or nice, they could grab a handful of straw from the box and drop it on the floor of the stable. When the box was emptied by our little do-gooders, the kids could place the baby Jesus on the straw.

After TerriLu explained the concept of the good-deed box, she asked the kids how they could be helpful. Jonathan, ever efficient even at age 4, pointed to the stable and suggested, “We could put some of this straw in there.” When the kids were small it took many handfuls to empty the box and fill the stable floor. Over time the much larger hands and proportionately larger handfuls were a sad reminder for Mom that her kids were growing up much too fast.

On Christmas Eve, our two oldest, Melissa and Michael, acted out the part of Mary and Joseph, respectively, on their trek to Bethlehem while Jonathan and William took dual roles as shepherds and two of the three wise men. Unfortunately my IQ was not high enough to qualify me for the part of the third wise man. Besides, I was the narrator, having memorized St. Luke’s classic story after hearing Linus recite it in Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special every year in my previous childhood. “…And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…”

TerriLu, in addition to being the executive producer and director, handled wardrobe, choreography, casting, computer-graphic imaging, backgrounds, art direction, video, sound, lights, makeup, music, photography, stunts, stage layout, and special effects. She also perfectly and appropriately played the part of several angels (she made me put that in). Additionally, for Animal Protection Services, TerriLu certified that no animals were injured during the production. This became important when we bought a white, miniature poodle to co-star as a sheep watched over by shepherds abiding in the field. Three years later, we purchased an obstreperous yet multi-talented boxer pup to play several adjunct roles including Mary’s donkey on the trail, a cow in the stable, a camel for the wise guys, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The last time our children played the nativity-scene roles, I inappropriately substituted one, small word in my recitation. I began reverently, “And there were in the same country…plumbers….” This small misstep caught all of the actors so off guard that they never recovered sufficiently to carry on with the Christmas story. Even Brindle, the boxer, and Twinkie, the miniature poodle, laughed hysterically and commented on the humor injected into the dialogue, although really they had no clue why it was funny – they were just going along with the family. And it came to pass…well, no, it didn’t come to pass that year.

Several years later Melissa married Rick and within a few months she was “with child.” By Christmas she was “great with child” and TerriLu thought it was appropriate to resurrect (no pun intended) the sacred script since she could now cast a truly pregnant Mary who was espoused and married to Joseph. Not wanting to offend his new in-laws, Rick reluctantly but uncomplainingly went along with the role of Joseph, complete with a bath towel over his head and a rope headband. With Rick in the role of Joseph, TerriLu was able to cast three shepherds, Michael, Jonathan, and William, and more importantly, all three wise men.

The next year TerriLu tried to again recruit Rick for the part of Joseph, but Rick said his agent was demanding $20 million per picture and two assistants. Once Rick realized that his place in the family was secure, no amount of cajoling could convince him to drape a towel over his head in the lead actor’s role. Of course, as soon as the dogs realized that Rick was bailing out, their agents started asking for more money and bigger movie-star trailers.

So our Christmas story production went on hiatus for a few years…until Rick and Melissa’s two oldest children, Brenna and Josh, were old enough to be pressed into theatrical service. And the dogs happily took their respective roles alongside their favorite little people, all of whom are contracted for the next seventeen Christmas Eves. So once again I recite the Christmas story as Mary and Joseph make their way down the hallway, across the barren DuPont carpet, and into the family room to place their precious baby Jesus on the beautiful, golden straw.