Silent Night. Or Mayhem in the Stable.

Last night Ben, who's 4, came over to paint Xmas decorations to hang on the tree.
I'd bought some new figures for the nativity scene.
These included 3 wise men, or Kings, depending on your beliefs, and a camel.
There was an Angel with impressive wings; Mary, Joseph and of course the baby Jesus, complete with swaddling clothes and laying in a manger, accompanied by a sheep.
There was some cattle too.
I left them out on the table because I had a feeling Ben would be interested.

'OOh!' he said 'Whose are these toys Nanny?'

Ben is interested in God.
'God created the world.' he told me one day.
'God created me.' he went on.
Ahh bless him.
My heart warmed to his innocence.
'Nanny?'
'Yes Ben?'
'If God created us, who created God?' he asked.

So he looked at the figures and played with them a bit.
He asked who was who.
That was interesting.
For about a minute.

After some rearranging of the figures underneath a plant on the table, Joseph, without warning, changed from the Saint we all know and love, into a real bad guy.

He took off into the air flying above the gentle scene below.

Then he began to dive bomb Mary and the baby Jesus, resulting in him knocking over one of the three Kings.

'Ooops!' said Ben

"That's okay." I reassured him and uprighted the felled King..

But soon Joseph was off and flying once more.

'VRRROOOOM!'

He swooped down over Bethlehem, wreaking havoc on the Archangel and a second King.

Then, there was some kind of altercation down in the stable.
It all happened very quickly.
And ended abruptly when Joseph's head fell off
and bounced across the table landing a few feet away from his body.

Mary winced.

Joseph had obviously miscalculated his trajectory.
On the up sweep his head came into contact with the Angel's wings and that was it.
Game over.

'Oh no! I'm sorry Nanny.'
Ben was sad.
'No problem.' says I.
We'll use super glue.

That was a relief.
Ben held Joseph's head in one hand and his body in the other.

'Don't worry Zhofus.' he told him
'We're going to fix you.'

So we did.

And Peace reigned  over all the Earth once more.

The cattle lowed.
and the baby stirred.
The Kings offered their gifts.
Joseph took his place next to Mary.
Mary just gave him a look.

But she never said a word.
;-)