Clean enough for Jesus?

Last week I pulled out one of my favorite nativities. It's one that I remember my mom having when I was a little girl.  I would sit by it for a long time admiring it.  Probably the reason I loved it so much is that it lights up.  Anyway, my mom has given it to me and I still love it. It has a place of honor on my kitchen counter...and I'm not one to have things on the counters!  No canisters, no cookbooks, just my small appliances I use often enough to not put them in a cabinet.  (And dishes that pile up throughout the day...)

Anyway, last week I went to plug in my nativity and realized that because of all the baking I was doing, I barely had enough room to set baby Jesus on the counter!  There was my floured surface for rolling out pizza dough, there were piles of mixing bowls left over from mixing up cookies and nut rolls.  There was a mess everywhere I looked! But, I just pushed it all aside and thought to myself, "Well this is better than baby Jesus' real birth place." 

Most people think Jesus was born in a stable and most nativities show as much.  But more than likely Jesus was born in a cave of some sort.  And Mary laid Him in a manger!  Can you imagine these health officials if they could see that?  A newborn baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough.  Not very sanitary, was it?  So, I don't think Jesus would mind my kitchen counter and all it's flour and sugar. 

I turn it on every day amazed that I have yet to need to change the bulb.  I'm equally amazed that I haven't broken it as it is very fragile.  My kids love it too and so I tell them I used to enjoy it when I was their age. Maybe one day I will pass it along to one of them. Maybe.