Hay in a Manger

Although I don't have children yet, I am excited to do this tradition when I do. We had a wooden manger in our living room by the nativity set that looked similar to the one pictured above. There was also a can all cutesied-up that had pieces of hay/straw in it. When one of us 7 children did something kind for someone else, we got to place a piece of hay in the manger.

The goal was to have the manger nice and comfy by the time Christmas morning would come so that baby Jesus would have a nice place to sleep when he was born :) If we were mean or did something unkind, one of our siblings would enforce that we remove a piece of hay. I am sure my Mom loved this tradition to not only keep up in line, but also to help us remember why we celebrate Christmas. On Christmas morning before opening gifts and seeing what Santa brought, we would place Jesus in his hopefully comfortable bed.