Your Holiday Decorating Questions Answered Here!

Wrig is at that age, and the age comes for everybody, when she's begun to wonder about all that Christ in Christmas business. Wandering around town one afternoon, she saw a nativity scene and asked Mom to explain the story about that baby. Mom managed to get through it, but Wrig was not satisfied.

Later that same day, Wrig and I were listening to a lovely, very traditional (read: religious) Pete Seeger Christmas album. Wrig asked me to tell the story about that baby and I told her what I knew: the mom, the dad who wasn't the dad, the no room at the inn bit. Then I told her about the sheep and the shepherds and the, "let's see, I think there was a star - yeah, there was a star, that's why there are all those songs about the star of Bethlehem. And then the three wise men show up and give gold, frankincense, and myrrh ... you know what gold is, right? And frankincense ... um, frankincense smells nice ... and, well, I don't know what myrrh is. But that's why we give all these gifts on Christmas. And there were angels there. Singing. Yup. Singing angels." And in response to a question Wrigley asked a few weeks ago as we gently placed our reindeer at the top of our tree, I added, "That's why lots of people put angels on the top of their Christmas trees ... and stars, too. 'Cause of the star of Bethlehem."

This is deep stuff, this Christmas story. Heady stuff. The kind of stuff wars are fought over and tv specials are written about. So Wrig ponders. And ponders. And ponders. And finally she asks the question that has been plaguing preachers, philosophers, scholars, and home decorators for centuries:

"So why don't people put crying babies on the top of their trees?"