Christmas Oopsie
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree of Contrast.
I took my mom for a little drive around town so she could see the Christmas lights. Things had changed a bit since she was last able to be gone from home (and from Daddy’s bedside) long enough to see the  lights, and we got a little lost on the roads she remembered and I ended up in driveways instead of on the road. But it was a very lovely evening filled with light and lots of lights.
Pretty trees in the same windows they’ve been in since I was a little girl. The same breed  of painted plywood deer  in  most  every  yard.  Even  a  house  or  two  that sported  lighted  pink  flamingo  or  two  and  neon  palm trees.
And several manger scenes.
The girls and I had read recently about a Baby Jesus stolen from a  manger scene, so when we passed a little house with a lighted manger admired by a plywood angel nailed into position, a plywood Mary, a plywood Joseph, and several plywood wise men, shepherds, and sheep, I told the girls to look and see if Baby Jesus was in the manger.
He wasn’t. I joked to my mom and girls that maybe somebody had stolen Baby Jesus from the manger.
“Probably  would,† my  mom  acknowledged,  “if  he weren’t nailed down.â€
Then she realized what she’d said.