Lars and Marge Antisdel built a huge nativity display in
their yard every year for Christmas – and not one of those cheap plastic sets
with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus either. They went all out. Their
nativity scene included the Holy Family, of course, but they also had sheep and
a shaggy donkey, and scruffy shepherds, and singing angels, all crafted out of
durable resin in Italy. And Lars had them displayed in a crèche he’d built from
distressed lumber and dressed with hay. The whole scene was especially
beautiful at night, illuminated as it was with carefully arranged spotlights
that gave Jesus, Mary, and Joseph nimbuses of light around their heads like
soft haloes of glory. They even hid small speakers in the manger so that folks
who drove by could listen to string arrangements of “O Holy Night,” “Angels We
Have Heard on High,” and other Christmas hymns.
The Antisdel display had been featured on the front page of
the local paper. The Herald Examiner sent out a photographer and a reporter for
an interview with Lars and Marge. “Come to Bethlehem and See” was the headline
of the article.
But this year their display left me disappointed, as
beautiful as it was. And this year they’d even added a trio of Wise Men on
camels far to the side of the manger scene. It should have been delightful. But
it all left me sad because also in their yard was one of those yard signs with
the flag of the United States in blue, black, and white and the words: SUPPORT
OUR POLICE.
I can’t look at the Antisdel’s display without thinking of
Herod’s troops, dispatched to slaughter the children of Bethlehem. I can’t look
at the Antisdel’s display without hearing Rachel weeping for her children; she
would not be comforted because they are not.
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