The 3 Kings Brought What?

We celebrated 3 Kings Day yesterday. It is a big holiday in the Puerto Rican culture, so we've integrated it into our family. Normally you are supposed to put grass in a box under your bed for the camels that the 3 Kings ride, but Mateo is so young that we didn't bother this year. We just gave him a present and said, "Happy 3 Kings Day."

Actually, I had planned an open house for friends and family and was going to make Puerto Rican food, but the weather forecast looked bad so I canceled. Turns out it didn't start sleeting till 10pm. Oh well.

So we took an extra gift we had for Christmas (since he got SO much) and gave it to Mateo last night. It was a garbage truck, which Mateo loves. In an attempt to put some meaning to the random gift, and because Mateo pretty much thinks we go to church every week to worship Santa, Dave tries to explain about the story of the three kings. I'm "working" on the computer at this point because....well....I know better. Here is the conversation they had.

Dave: Mateo, when baby Jesus was born there were 3 kings that brought Jesus presents. They brought gold, frankencense, and -

Mateo: Garbage!

Dave: (enter defeated sigh) Yes, we celebrate 3 Kings Day because the kings brought Jesus garbage.

See? I told him. I know better. In Mateo's defense, we did give him a garbage truck for 3 Kings Day. It kind of makes sense. The 3 kings obviously brought Jesus garbage if we were giving him a garbage truck, right?

So here's to the new nativity story. Gold, frankincense, and garbage!

****** Correction: Dave was actually contrasting the disparities between the myth/tradition of Three Kings Day (i.e. 3 members of some royalty arriving on camels 12 days after Jesus' birth) and the Biblical version of an unspecified number of "wise men" arriving an unspecified time period "after" His birth using an unspecified mode of transportation. Of course, the subtleties were lost on Mateo (and me).