"I wanna bibabee!"

Devoutly religious Jewish parents cope with Junior's new discovery!


I sensed the warmth, the love, the joy of Christmas...


Adapted from Roy Schoeman's personal contribution to the book he compiled, Honey From the Rock: Sixteen Jews Find the Sweetness of Christ.

He calls his personal account, Surprised by Grace.

Pages 273 - 274:

"I had a naturally devout nature -- I was always aware of God, desired to please Him, and I took great joy in being on (or so I thought) the inside track as a Jew, one of His own people.

"It was in Hebrew school and in the activities that revolved around the synagogue that I felt most in my own skin, in my Jewish identity.

"This is not to say that I had no experience of, or even yearning for Christianity or, to be more precise, Jesus.

"For instance, the first full sentence that anyone remembers me saying -- it later became a sort of family joke -- was I want a Christmas tree! -- although in my inability to speak clearly yet it came out I wanna bibabee!

"This I would ceaselessly repeat to the great annoyance of my parents and older sister.

"I remember clearly the motivation behind my monotonous insistence: I sensed the warmth, the love, the joy of Christmas, and the very real presence of the Baby Jesus at the center of it all and had a great yearning for all that, but most of all for the Christ Child..."

Folks, this whole book is great holiday read! :)