Rearranging and playing out entire stories with the Nativity pieces are part of a child’s DNA. I recall my siblings and I doing this on the daily… only to find that mom had snuck them back to their assigned stations the next time we walked by. It seemed a bit of a game. How long could our recreation last? Juuust maaaybe all of the pieces would gain parental permission to remain crammed in one corner of the stable while the ‘weary shepherd’ was left snoozing on top of a camel heading in the wrong direction? Surely, they would agree that St. Joseph looked much better fixing the roof; balanced between the ridge and eave, frozen in his bowed position of adoration? No such luck.

Now the table has turned. I’m the mom moving props and pieces back to assigned (apparently boring) stations on the daily. I like to think of it as clearing the slate for the next child’s imagination. However, the other day someone aaalmost won against my itch for (my idea of) balanced placement. I came upon this hilariously precious rearrangement while everyone was outside so I can only imagine the storyline went something like this:

You can’t expect people to merely hang out in a cave for days on end. At some point they need a change of scenery and will head to town for a decent cup of coffee. Thankfully, their faithful beast of burden can carry the infant AND manger…. talk about pack and play! Disregard any and all safety misdemeanors as they make the return trip back, leaving a bit of chaos behind them.

A street of Bethlehem had a pile up of sick and dying sheep. Perhaps the shepherds were new to the business or were still trying to catch up on sleep after all the midnight excitement a few nights prior and the flock grazed themselves into some bad grasses?

Either way, they were promptly sent to time out and would probably be there still if I had not rescued them. Luckily for them, they still have their jobs and the new herd is thriving.

And as if the sheep incident wasn’t enough for one street, poor water boy found himself a bit too smitten over gorgeous goose gal. He’s embarrassed enough the way it is so we’ll leave young love lying as is and move on…

To the end. And in the end, we are all just trying to put our personal touch on those timeless pieces that are only out several weeks of the year.