The Nativity

The BBC put on a production called The Nativity which was about the aforementioned Nativity. It was a four-part program and was very interesting. Putting artistic license to one side it was very though provoking.
Mary was a young girl (said to be 16 in the film) and pledged to be married in a time when committing adultery would get you stoned to death and was very much frowned upon. Her & Joseph appeard to be happy, presumably having only met through her parents wishes, they talked, got on well with eachother and Joseph was mad about Mary. Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel with the news she would have a baby but she was still a virgin. I think Mary was very brave to accept what was happening to her. She must've been very scared. How did she tell her parents, Joseph and her friends. It would surely be scary to be pregnant in our modern day but 2000 years it must have been a hellish time. The story goes from the visiting of the angel to Mary & Joseph travelling to Bethlehem with Mary being ready to give birth. There is nothing said about the in-between 9 months. What must have Mary thought? Did she doubt her ability to do this job. What about all those that didn't believe her. Did her parents believe her? It was quite a job to ask of Mary, to go through all the accusations and no-doubt name-calling, the scandal that the pregnancy would've caused. I've never thought about this side of the nativity. We tend to think of the infant nativity that our children perform in school, but it couldn't have been that nice. What did Joseph think. In the film, right up until the end (the birth) Joseph was racked with the pain of what he thought had happened. Mary's betrayal of him. He was a man of his word and as he said to Mary's parents he'd see that she was safely delivered to bethlehem. As Mary went into labour, Joseph couldn't watch and I sat there in pain for Mary having to go through the labour with a stranger and will Jospeh to 'see'. To go to Mary and comfort her. Right at the end he did and you know that his heart knowledge had finally travellled to his head.
I think it was very brave of the BBC to put this produciton on - certainly in times where christians cant be seen to be offending any other religion. It has made me think about the 9 months between the visit of the angel and the birth of Jesus and how brave both Mary & Joseph were in following God's plan.
If Mary hadn't off said yes to God would he have carried on anyway or would there have been a plan B?

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat (apparently)

It is 3 days till Christmas and as ever I am completely organised. I am not the type of person that has presents still left to wrap, presents to collect from the postal depot, still waiting for things off ebay (not majorly ruin your christmas things) and presents to collect from another part of the country whilst the roads are icy and snowy. Nope not me. Miss Organisation is my name. Haha
So there we are, everything I am not the type of person is really me. Oh dear. It happens every year. Although progress has been made in the planning dept. I stesarted putting some money aside for presents in October so I had a few pounds. Having said that I like the saving side and am going to continue it throughout the year. Whether I will ever be organised is something not to hold your breathe about.
I feel like I'm starting to wind down a bit now, school has finished and Hannah was fortunate enough to get two snow days extra as she wasn't due to finish till Tuesday this week but the weather put a stiop to school on Sunday night. I have only a shift on Christmas Eve and then will be off for 6 days (hopefully, have yet to see the rota). December has been busy, working, school nativities, Hannah's extra clubs that she goes to and I'm left feeling like when will I ever get on top of the house work. Washing is a continual mountain needing to be done, plus the hoovering and cleaning. Arrrghhhhh
I shall be glad of some rest. I'm not opting for extra hours at work till the schools get back into the swing of things as the kids have been farmed out enough in recent weeks.

Christmas - I am looking forward to seeing Hannah & Joshua's faces when they open up their big presents and see the look of delight when they realise what we have bought for them.
I have had a few presents from Pete already. He, sadly doesn't really do surprises and doesn't think he buys good presents but he does when he puts his mind to it. He's bought me some stuiff for running so in the new year I can really concentrate on my half marathon and a book on London so I can work out what to see & do when we go (hopefully half term).
Spending some family time with everyone.
Hannah got us to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus the other day on the walk back from work, so we'll have to do that on the day.
Resting, relaxing, quality family time. Woo hoo.