My mother permitted me to play with the family nativity set when I was young.

I used to knock the fake snow off the stable roof. Not that I knew the snow to be historically inaccurate, in Israel, in August.

But it flaked off easily enough.

In turn, I let my boys play with the nativity, a replica of the one my mother had, albeit without the fake snow. A fairly common one of resin by Fontanini.

A boy from the neighborhood visited last week and they took to playing with the figures.

Holding the baby high, Tim announced to our guest, "This is God."

Our guest was skeptical of the claim but checked himself and replied, "I'm Christian. Are you guys Christian?"

I didn't have to answer on their behalf; they said, "Yes."

I also have the Fisher Price version but it's less popular with them.