Living Nativity scene

In high school I ran with a group of 5 or 6 borderline hooligans. We did things that could have gotten us into a lot of trouble if we had been caught. We lived on an Army post and each of the five regiments put together a life sized nativity scene for the holidays. They were done up for the entertainment of families that drove around at night to enjoy them. My house was right across the street from one of the displays. My grandmother was visiting and one evening while watching the traffic go by slowing to view, granny said " wouldn't it be funny if those characters were alive and moving around when the cars came by?" That's all it took to get us started.

The following night which was probably a Friday or Saturday night, My friends arrived with sheets and blankets and we made Jewish robes and head wear for ourselves. During a lull in the traffic we hurried over to the scene and took frozen positions among the other characters. When the first car slowed in front of the nativity scene, we began to slowly move around the manger. We would go over and look at the baby in the manger, nod approval to Mary and pat Joseph on the back. We would shake hands with the wise men and the shepherds. As the evening progressed we became bolder and more irreverent, picking up the baby and burping him or holding him up for all to see. Someone found an empty whiskey bottle and was feeding it to the baby. My dad called me over to the house and said to quit it because someone was bound to call the police (MP's) before long. I went back over and told the guys and we left. We hadn't been gone from the scene for ten minutes when an MP patrol car pulled up and stopped and began searching the area with a spot light. We were all in my yard but the clothing evidence had disappeared so the police may have suspected but they had nothing to pin on us.

My Dad heard later around the office that the 35th Infantry Regiment went all out and had live characters in their display. I may have mentioned before that I was dating the daughter of the Provost Martial (chief of police) and my apprehension would have meant the termination of a wonderful relationship.