Cultural
Background
Storyteller's Cabin
Frederick climbed down off the pile of hay. He squeezed between the big people until he reached the manger. Frederick thought, for a horse's feeding box, the manger wasn't even well built. No mattress at all - just straw for the baby Jesus, the son of Heaven, the Christ child, to sleep on in this rank-smelling barn. That's awful!
He looked down at baby Jesus sound asleep. He reached under his cloak and pulled out Willie, his baby lamb doll. He held her up and whispered into her ears how much he loved her and how baby Jesus would love her too, and how much he would miss her. But now Willie had to take care of a new baby, like she had taken care of him when he was a baby.
Frederick gave Willie a big hug. When he started to put Willie into the manger, baby Jesus woke up, saw the baby lamb doll up in the air above him and started giggling. Baby Jesus reached his little hands into the air, grabbed and hugged Willie to his chest. Then baby Jesus, snuggled up next to Willie, closed his eyes and went back to sleep with a smile on his face.
When baby Jesus saw Willie and laughed for the first time, that's when the first of the three Christmas miracles we know about took place. Remember when I told you about the blind old donkey that had brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem? Well, he suddenly could see! He looked all around the barn, and was mighty surprised. You should have seen the big grin on his face!
The second miracle happened to this old ragweed that used to grow throughout the Roman Empire. When Frederick gave his doll to baby Jesus, it suddenly bloomed a pretty red flower. Every year after that, the old weed blossomed the same red flower during the Christmas season. People started calling it the "Christmas Flower," which we call the "Poinsettia" here in the U.S. of A.
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