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Essay: Manger Scene

Every year just before Christmas, my grandfather invited me to help him set up the manger scene
on his fireplace mantel.

The stable was made of cardboard but it had a picture of a gray donkey
and real straw on the floor.
 
Carefully, we unwrapped each figure from tissue paper: Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. Two
shepherds and two sheep; three wise men and one camel. A cow.
 
Grandpa explained that we could only afford to add one new figure each year.
 
He invited me to place the people and animals where I thought they should go—and I spent time
getting the scene just right. Then I cut out a piece of felt to put in the manger because the straw
was prickly.
 
Grandpa had rigged up a little light behind the star-shaped window and when he plugged it in, a
soft yellow glow made everything come alive. I could hear the animals breathing.
 
Somehow, I inherited the manger scene and I remember the first time I set it up as an adult,
noticing that the figures were made of cheap plaster. They had seemed so precious to me, the
way they were each wrapped in tissue paper.
 
The way I still wrap them.