Christmas story forwarded by Shirley Southard:

About a week before Christmas, Mom bought a new nativity scene.

When she unpacked it, she found two figures of the Baby Jesus.

"Someone must have packed this wrong," mother said, counting out the
figures. "We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds,
two lambs, a donkey, cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose
some set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have two."

"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an
extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if
a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. Put on your warm coats, it's
freezing cold out there."

The manager of the store copied down mother's message, and the next
time we were in the store, we saw the cardboard sign that read, "If you're
missing Baby Jesus, call 7126." All week long we waited for someone to call.

Surely, we thought, someone was missing that important figurine. Each
time the phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus."

But it never was.

Father tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over the
country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or Texas
or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He suggested
that she just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget about it. "Put
Baby Jesus back in the box?! What a terrible thing to do," said mother.

"Surely someone will call. We'll just keep the two of them together in the manger
until someone does."

When no call had come by 5:00 on Christmas Eve, mother insisted that
father "just run down to the store" to see if there were any sets left.

"You can see them right through the window, over on the counter," she
said. "If they are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight."

"Run down to the store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out there!"

"Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you!" We began to put on our coats. Father gave
a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't believe I'm doing this,"

he muttered.

We ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out in the cold. Tommy got to
the store first and pressed his nose up to the store window.

"They're all gone, Daddy," he shouted. "Every set must be sold. Hooray!
The mystery will be solved tonight!"

Father heard the news still a half block away and immediately turned on
his heel and headed back home. When we got back into the house, we
noticed that mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.

"Someone must have called, and she went out to deliver the figurine,"

father reasoned, pulling off his boots. "You kids get ready for bed while I

wrap mother's present."

Then the phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell 'em we
found a home for Jesus." But it was mother calling with instructions for us to
come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a box
of cookies and some milk..

"Now what has she gotten us into?" father groaned as we bundled up again.
205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk up good in the blankets
or it will turn to ice before we get there. Why can't we all just get on with Christmas?

It's probably 20 below out there now. And the wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things

to do on a night like this."

When we got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest one on the block.
Only one tiny light burned in the living room, and the moment we set foot on the porch

steps, mother opened the door and shouted, "They're here! Oh thank God you got

here, Ray! You kids take those blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones

on the couch. I'll take the milk and cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" father asked. "We have just

walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all the way."

"Never mind all that now," mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this
house, and this young mother is so upset, she doesn't know what to do. Her
husband walked out on her, and those poor little children will have a very bleak
Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil furnace in a jffy."

My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother and
I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled together on the
couch. The children's mother explained to my father that her husband had
run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but she had
been doing all right until the furnace broke down.

"I been doin' washin' an ironin' for people and cleanin' the five and dime,"
she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the counter.
When the furnace went out, that number kept goin' through my mind. 7162,
7162. "Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call you.
That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help folks.
I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery
store tonight, and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus, mister,
because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no money to fix that
furnace."

"Okay, okay," said father. "You've come to the right place. Now let's see.

You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be too
hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what it needs."

Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and warm
milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of
Baby Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of Christmas
in the house. The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of
cookies my mother set before them.

Father finally got the oil burner working but said, "You need more oil.

I'll make a few calls tonight and get some oil. Yes sir, we came to the right place."

On the way home, father did not complain about the cold weather and had
barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone. "Ed, hey, how are ya,
Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say Ed, we have kind of an unusual
situation here. I know you've got that pick-up truck. Do you still have some oil in
that barrel on your truck? You do?"

By this time the rest of the family was pulling clothes out of their closets and toys

off of their shelves. It was long after our bedtime when we were wrapping gifts.

The pickup came. On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and gifts. Even though

it was 30 below, father let us ride along in the back of the truck.

No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but as I grow

older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all. Jesus saves, that's what He does.

** Author Unknown