A Christmas Story

I made the mistake of giving Mom the Madame Alexander Doll catalogue and asking her which doll she would like for Christmas. Most dolls cost $60-$70, so I thought it would be a reasonable gift she would enjoy.
What she wanted, however, was the nativity set of Mary and Joseph with Jesus in the manger, sheep, a cow, and the surrounding stable--$300, not counting the angel doll she wanted to go with the others.
I spent a couple weeks trying to talk her into other dolls, but finally on the day after Thanksgiving I decided to order the nativity set.
"We're sold out on that, ma'am," said the salesperson when I finally courageously called in my order.
But then I felt terrible for postponing the order for so long.
What to do?
I ended up taking Beth and Laurie from her Little Women collection of Madame Alexander dolls and fashioning costumes to make them look like Mary and Joseph, and dressing a tiny baby doll as Jesus. I borrowed the stable roof from a wooden nativity set and found some sheep.
She loved her nativity set. It occupied the table in her room at Ocean View Assisted Living for the whole month of December.