History lesson time!

Jay moved into this house (the one we currently live in) in August 2002.

We did not live together until our wedding night (all together now, "Awwwww!!!!")

When I moved in in June 2003, our house was, in every sense, a bachelor pad.  Complete with a Keg-o-rator.  No, I'm not joking.

My sweet mom tried to help me make the house look more homey, and bought a bunch of cute items to help decorate.  One of the things she bought was a little miniature manger scene.  I loved it.  The figures are no more than an inch tall.  I have displayed it every Christmas for the past 9 years, and I always put it in the same spot:  right on a shelf (that is at kid level, mind you) in the hallway.

Thankfully, Ethan never broke it.  He played with it, but it always ended up back on the little ledge intact.

Then came Allison.  Allison played with it, too, and while she never SEEMS overly aggressive with it, I can't help but notice some changes.  Here, I'll let you look and see if you can see what I mean:

Now we've got the farm animals.  See the little goat (mule?) over there?  And one of the shepherds is holding a little lamb.  We've got the three wise men and their strange little gifts (I bet Mary would have preferred bottles, diapers, and wipes, but whatev)  We've got an angel in pink, praying over sweet baby Jesus (you can't really tell from the pic, but there is a halo and wings on her) and we've got Joseph, looking at his new little bundle of baby boy goodness.  But....where is Mary?  Anyone see her?  Was baby Jesus colicky and she needed to go out with her holy girlfriends for a while?  Or maybe she was laying down somewhere cause Lord knows (haha!) that after delivering a baby, your body is kind of...gooey.  I don't know.  All I know is she high-tailed it out of there and I hope Joseph doesn't go after her for child support.  And who invited the hedgehogs??!