{"id":21232,"date":"2025-12-26T01:17:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/?p=21232"},"modified":"2025-12-26T01:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:22:27","slug":"an-unexpected-christmas-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unexpected Christmas Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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We thought about bypassing Christmas this year. We had been sick with a stubborn respiratory infection for weeks. Isolated in our house, we had to cancel all of our scheduled festivities. At our home, there were no signs of Christmas. No tree, no elves, no Santas… and most of all, no baby Jesus.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He was missing. Yes missing. After all of the antibiotics and steroids, when we finally started to feel better, we tore through the house in a cleaning frenzy. Then came the decorations ending with the manger scene. But, my heart dropped when the baby was nowhere to be found.<\/div>\n
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I looked for him among the elves, the carollers, the gnomes, the angels, the Santas, and the ornaments. The shepherds were busy with their flocks and the wise men had their hands full of gifts. Technically, they hadn’t even arrived yet. Mary and Joseph stared at the empty manger until I put in a placeholder, a shell from Florida shaped like a small body. A creative, albeit, very different representation. It will do, I told myself, but I missed that tiny baby in the manger. I wasn’t able to find a suitable baby on Amazon or Etsy, even when I checked the shop where I purchased our original set. It appeared they didn’t make the set anymore.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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 <\/div>\n
So, I wrote the artist, telling her what had happened. “Do you still make the figurines that belong in the set? Our baby Jesus has come up missing.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Her reply was unexpected, bringing tears to my eyes. “Merry CHRISTmas! I’m so sorry your baby Jesus has gone missing!! I am happy to send you a replacement no charge, because you can’t buy Jesus .”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That act of kindness from a virtual stranger meant the world to me. The baby figurine is in the mail on his way to our home, but Jesus is already here in every kind word and extended hand.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I hope you had a Merry Christmas. May you know His presence this holiday season and always.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Deb and John<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We thought about bypassing Christmas this year. We had been sick with a stubborn respiratory infection for weeks. Isolated in our house, we had to cancel all of our scheduled festivities. At our home, there were no signs of Christmas. No tree, no elves, no Santas… and most of all, no baby Jesus.
\nHe was missing. Yes, missing. After all of the antibiotics and steroids, when we finally started to feel better, we tore through the house in a cleaning frenzy. Then came the decorations, ending with the manger scene. But my heart dropped when the baby was nowhere to be found.
\nI looked for him among the elves, the carollers, the gnomes, the angels, the Santas, and the ornaments. The shepherds were busy with their flocks and the wise men had their hands full of gifts. Technically, they hadn’t even arrived yet. Mary and Joseph stared at the empty manger until I put in a placeholder, a shell from Florida shaped like a small body. A creative, but very different, representation. It will do, I told myself, but I missed that tiny baby in the manger. I wasn’t able to find a suitable baby on Amazon or Etsy, even when I checked the shop where I purchased our original set. It appeared they didn’t make the set anymore.
\nSo, I wrote the artist, telling her what had happened. “Do you still make the figurines that belong in the set? Our baby Jesus has come up missing.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[696],"tags":[927,929,928,931,930,659],"class_list":["post-21232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feed-your-spirit","tag-blessing","tag-christmas","tag-faith","tag-grace","tag-kindness","tag-spirit"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Unexpected Christmas Blessing - Life by Larabee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We thought about bypassing Christmas this year. We had been sick with a stubborn respiratory infection for weeks. Isolated in our house, we had to cancel all of our scheduled festivities. At our home, there were no signs of Christmas. No tree, no elves, no Santas... and most of all, no baby Jesus.He was missing. Yes, missing. After all of the antibiotics and steroids, when we finally started to feel better, we tore through the house in a cleaning frenzy. Then came the decorations, ending with the manger scene. But my heart dropped when the baby was nowhere to be found.I looked for him among the elves, the carollers, the gnomes, the angels, the Santas, and the ornaments. The shepherds were busy with their flocks and the wise men had their hands full of gifts. Technically, they hadn't even arrived yet. Mary and Joseph stared at the empty manger until I put in a placeholder, a shell from Florida shaped like a small body. A creative, but very different, representation. It will do, I told myself, but I missed that tiny baby in the manger. I wasn't able to find a suitable baby on Amazon or Etsy, even when I checked the shop where I purchased our original set. It appeared they didn't make the set anymore.So, I wrote the artist, telling her what had happened. "Do you still make the figurines that belong in the set? Our baby Jesus has come up missing."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Unexpected Christmas Blessing - Life by Larabee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We thought about bypassing Christmas this year. We had been sick with a stubborn respiratory infection for weeks. Isolated in our house, we had to cancel all of our scheduled festivities. At our home, there were no signs of Christmas. No tree, no elves, no Santas... and most of all, no baby Jesus.He was missing. Yes, missing. After all of the antibiotics and steroids, when we finally started to feel better, we tore through the house in a cleaning frenzy. Then came the decorations, ending with the manger scene. But my heart dropped when the baby was nowhere to be found.I looked for him among the elves, the carollers, the gnomes, the angels, the Santas, and the ornaments. The shepherds were busy with their flocks and the wise men had their hands full of gifts. Technically, they hadn't even arrived yet. Mary and Joseph stared at the empty manger until I put in a placeholder, a shell from Florida shaped like a small body. A creative, but very different, representation. It will do, I told myself, but I missed that tiny baby in the manger. I wasn't able to find a suitable baby on Amazon or Etsy, even when I checked the shop where I purchased our original set. It appeared they didn't make the set anymore.So, I wrote the artist, telling her what had happened. "Do you still make the figurines that belong in the set? Our baby Jesus has come up missing."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life by Larabee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-26T01:17:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-26T01:22:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Debra Larabee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Debra Larabee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Debra Larabee\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb4bc9378ebbbeec25c3d923adf05a3d\"},\"headline\":\"An Unexpected Christmas Blessing\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-26T01:17:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-26T01:22:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"blessing\",\"Christmas\",\"faith\",\"grace\",\"kindness\",\"spirit\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Feed Your Spirit\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/\",\"name\":\"An Unexpected Christmas Blessing - Life by Larabee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/26\\\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lifebylarabee.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-26T01:17:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-26T01:22:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"We thought about bypassing Christmas this year. 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We had been sick with a stubborn respiratory infection for weeks. Isolated in our house, we had to cancel all of our scheduled festivities. At our home, there were no signs of Christmas. No tree, no elves, no Santas... and most of all, no baby Jesus.He was missing. Yes, missing. After all of the antibiotics and steroids, when we finally started to feel better, we tore through the house in a cleaning frenzy. Then came the decorations, ending with the manger scene. But my heart dropped when the baby was nowhere to be found.I looked for him among the elves, the carollers, the gnomes, the angels, the Santas, and the ornaments. The shepherds were busy with their flocks and the wise men had their hands full of gifts. Technically, they hadn't even arrived yet. Mary and Joseph stared at the empty manger until I put in a placeholder, a shell from Florida shaped like a small body. A creative, but very different, representation. It will do, I told myself, but I missed that tiny baby in the manger. I wasn't able to find a suitable baby on Amazon or Etsy, even when I checked the shop where I purchased our original set. It appeared they didn't make the set anymore.So, I wrote the artist, telling her what had happened. \"Do you still make the figurines that belong in the set? Our baby Jesus has come up missing.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/an-unexpected-christmas-blessing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Unexpected Christmas Blessing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/","name":"Life by Larabee","description":"Your source for Inspired Living","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#organization","name":"Life by Larabee","url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo_WebsiteFinal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo_WebsiteFinal.png","width":415,"height":460,"caption":"Life by Larabee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb4bc9378ebbbeec25c3d923adf05a3d","name":"Debra Larabee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/339e852c148e06a823da864ad8a9f2af1c9191751d38c8cacd266211a6ab6506?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/339e852c148e06a823da864ad8a9f2af1c9191751d38c8cacd266211a6ab6506?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/339e852c148e06a823da864ad8a9f2af1c9191751d38c8cacd266211a6ab6506?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Debra Larabee"},"description":"Debra Larabee is a nurse, writer, photographer and lifestyle educator. She received her diploma in nursing in 1981 from Mount Carmel School of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in1990 from Capital University. Debra completed post-graduate training in distance education from the Univerity of Maryland and has dedicated her professional life to assisting others in their search for a healthier life.","url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/author\/dylarabee\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251225_114509-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21232"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21241,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21232\/revisions\/21241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifebylarabee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}