We found Jesus!

Way back in October I got super excited about the Little People Nativity set. So, when I found a good deal on it I bought it and had it shipped here. And yes, the set came out in October and sat on the coffee table until we left to go visit family for Christmas. Claire really enjoyed playing with the animals and pressing on the angel to hear "Away in a Manger." It was so cute!
My smart SIL has always wrapped up the baby Jesus to open as the first gift of Christmas. I thought that since Claire kind of understood who the baby was this year, that I would do the same thing. I had a running list of all the things we needed to take home with us for Christmas, and no joke, baby Jesus was the first item on the list. When it came time to pack I started rounding up the items on my list and I couldn't find Jesus. It was like he was here one minute and gone the next. Then, my already pregnant brain couldn't remember if I had already packed him in the bottom of the suitcase. So, when we arrived home I stopped worrying because I thought he was waiting to be found in the suitcase. But, when I looked for him, he wasn't there.
So upon arriving back in Canada, we searched high and low for baby Jesus. We eventually packed up the nativity without him and were all sad that the nativity was missing its most important member. Charlie even asked me the other day when we were at Toys R Us if we could buy a baby Jesus to replace ours.
And then yesterday Claire decided to pull every item one by one out of her toybox. I was trying to help her organize her mess, when what did I find in the bottom of the toybox? He was there all along.

Isn't this like life? We 'get' Jesus and spend time with him. Then we get confused with life and 'lose' him and try to go on without him. But really, when we slow down and clean up our messes, we can see clearly that he was never lost, we were the ones lost without him! So...if you are missing Jesus...take a moment and look around. Chances are he is right there in the bottom of your toybox!