During the Christmas season, my home church organized a drive-through living village experience of Bethlehem.

To make it authentic, we studied the clothing and scenery of the streets and marketplace during the time of Christ’s birth.

As the deligated photographer, my heart was stolen by the imagery of the children.

Contrary to the times, they wore beneath their costumes the latest brand of “light up” tennis shoes and the “angels of the field” abandoned their post to feed the goats.

The imagery was so endearing, I created a nativity padgent of figurines for my trademarked series, Mama Says…© with DEMDACO, Inc. For thirteen years, I designed more than 80 figurines based on my paintings of children. Each figure included a hidden heart. I explained, “Like it or not, a mother’s heart is always with her children”, hense I named the nativity set to share the heart of baby Jesus, “The Heart of Christmas”.

Jesus is the heart of Christmas, and he gave each of us our own privately designed heart, so we can share in his joy.

Did you find the cross? It’s center stage behind the star!