Gold, Frankincense and Smelly Cheese

Since Christmas is close-ish, we put up the nativity scenes for FHE - which put us all in mind of Max when he was 5 and convinced beyond doubt that the wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and smelly cheese.

We have no idea where this notion came from but Max and Louisa were both convinced. Max was more vocal about it all - Louisa was a bit suspicious that it might be wrong.

We even asked at Pine if he could have picked it up there - Patty was sure no one had said that but took advantage of it and told the nativity story the next day - pausing to ask if anyone knew what gifts the wise men brought. When Max confidently said 'gold, frankincense and smelly cheese' none of the other kids seemed to mind - so Patty just let it be - thus creating a group of children who have visions of wise men carrying smelly cheese.

This year Max is wise enough to know that there wasn't a lot of smelly cheese in Bethlehem - and old enough to laugh at his younger self.

At the time we didn't make a fuss about the misunderstanding - not to Max anyway - we laughed a lot and shared with everyone! And now we can see that you don't have to get all the facts right to love a story about Jesus.

Jesse, Louisa and Max also made Christmas puddings for dessert.