Santa Claus and the Baby Jesus

Two cute Christmas mythologies, both that people commemorate with little displays of the story every year. Only one that millions of people actually think is true past their childhood. My parents had a ceramic nativity scene that we would display under the eastern window in the dining room. We put some books down to act as a platform for the barn, then put a felt cloth over that, and placed the ceramic figures. We put fiberglass down next as the "snow" (or maybe that went down first).

When the Decorators in my house went atheist, we put the nativity scene away and used the space for other decorations. In college, I bought my parents some little snow-people -- two big ones and two little ones -- and they sometimes go there. I don't know the Christmas decoration plans this year though. The nativity scene and angel ornaments were the only casualties of our atheism, but now there is an angel on the top of the tree, where before we always had a star.

Today, at the Ashby Flea Market, I stumbled on this, and then haphazardly bargained it from $15 to $7.

The books (or rather, paperbacks in the dust jackets) have been there for a while, and this was the perfect location in my living room.