A Christmas Tale

It was Christmas, and at four and a half, Joshua was finally old
enough to
be an angel in our church Christmas pageant. That Sunday morning, as
we
dressed him in his angel costume, he was so preoccupied with adjusting
his wings and pulling his gold halo down over his eyes so he could see
it, that I never considered looking for contraband. It wasn't until I
was settling
into my seat in the church balcony, and the children were all at the
front
of our church that I noticed Vernon the cabbage patch doll held
securely
under Joshua's right arm. I recognized the bright blue of Vernon's
swim
trunks between the fold's of Josh's white angel costume. With my
background in psychology, I calmed myself thinking, "Well, maybe Vernon
will help him feel secure in front of all these people." Everything
went smoothly, until the director shepherded all the little preschool
angels to stand behind the
manger. As the junior high school girl playing Mary put the baby
Jesus
doll in the manger, Joshua pulled Vernon from under his arm, made
Vernon
soar back and forth twice over the manger, then dropped Vernon beside
the
baby Jesus. Mary quickly grabbed Vernon and stuffed him behind the
manger.
Just as quickly, my Joshua angel was down on his knees retrieving
Vernon.
Joshua dropped Vernon right back in the manger. I lost count of how
many
times Mary and my little angel tossed Vernon back and forth, but
finally
Mary gave up. Vernon stayed with baby Jesus, with my Joshua
angel beaming his smile over them both.