This Christmas, start a new tradition with your family: practice giving, as you anticipate the arrival of the Greatest Gift, and fill your Christmas season with a story of light, giving, and glory. Please note, orders made today will ship Lordwilling July 22nd. Together, we hope The Messiah Manger and its companion children’s story book The Light Gift allow your family to foster deeper connections with each other while keeping generous, grateful company with Christ. On December 1st, remove the star from the manger and give it to a member of your family. This family member has 24 hours to do an act of kindness for another member. Once they’ve given the gift of their kindness, their time, and their love, they add some straw to the manger and pass the star on to the next member of the family. (If you start a little later into the season, simply adjust the number of pieces of straw added to the manger.) Day by day, the manger will fill with straw as you fill your Christmas preparations with love and the spirit of giving. When Christmas arrives, replace the star and celebrate the coming of the Greatest Gift. Throughout this memorable new tradition, follow the story of Leora (whose name means 'Bringer of Light' in Hebrew), a young shepherdess girl who experiences a joyous journey of caring for others as she anticipates the exciting coming of her own little lamb - and the promised coming of the King. The storyline emphasizes the tradition that the Messiah Manger fosters: that kindness towards others and giving of ourselves is the best way to prepare our hearts for Christ. The Messiah Manger is handcrafted from cherry wood and stained with linseed oil. It comes with the manger, the giving star, straw for the manger, and a baby Jesus. The children’s Christmas book, The Light Gift, is crafted with the same careful attention to detail and commitment to quality. The hand painted illustrations and carefully crafted plot are accompanied by custom vellum textured paper and high-quality printing. We hope The Messiah Manger and The Light Gift will add something special to your Christmas traditions this year. The Manger can be used by itself or together with the Cradle-to-Cross wreath, available to purchase here. (If you are curious where you can find a Lazy Susan to stage your table centrepiece on, this may be helpful. A peek at The Light Gift’s storyline: (Spoilers!) Leora, a young shepherdess girl, leaves her mother to go visit her father and sisters who are taking care of the sheep in the hills, but she must pick up a number of items for her father along the way. Leora needs to hurry because her favourite sheep is having a lamb soon and she doesn't want to miss it. Along the way, while completing the tasks, she stops and helps those in need, despite her hurry, because she hears in her heart the song of "Stay on the way, and treat everyone as you would the Coming King." She makes her way to the hills, with all the things she needed to pick up, but she’s too late: her little lamb has already come. Leora and her family go to sleep only to be awoken by angels. Upon hearing the good news of the arrival of the King, they hurry to the manger, where it is quite dark. Leora gives her lamp, the last thing on her list to pick up, to light the darkness. When the lamp is lit, Leora sees evidence of the acts of kindness she had done on her way; all of them had been passed on to the Holy Family on their journey to Bethlehem. The Holy Family’s travels and reception of Leora’s kindness via the people she helps are shown in the bottom margin artwork throughout the story. Finally, hidden in each page is a hedgehog, which are native to the Middle East, for both kids and adults alike to seek out as they read along.
