Nesting Nativity

An unavoidable certitude of living in a big city flat is the absence of extraneous storage space. Witness Tree, whose lights and decorations fit in a small box that shares a dresser drawer with winter jumpers and an iron. You might have recognised Tree from last Christmas, if I had blogged about him last year. He spent the time between Christmases on the balcony overlooking the Palaces at Westminster and Lambeth on the Thames. He’s now inside again to celebrate the festive season. Recently, my beloved found the perfect nativity for city flats: the nesting nativity. The three kings are all on the same doll, so you can rotate it to give each his turn facing forward. Although baby Jesus made an appearance for the photo opportunity, the nesting dolls allow for the anatomically correct ‘storage’ of a ‘preincarnate’ Jesus in Mary’s interior/womb. After the Epiphany, the whole holy lot of them can be conveniently nested for storage.