Well, my sister made a ten-foot trebuchet for a physics class that never really worked right, and I always wanted to go back and fix the somewhat impressive device (that is now up on cinderblocks in my parents' front yard -- we are that kind of redneck, apparently) so I could hurl masses of water balloons at live nativity scenes come Christmas time.
I am so going to Hell.
What brought up that memory was an assignment from a few weeks ago: one of the Mormon churches was putting up a display of more than 500 nativities from all around the world. "Hey, cool," I thought, even though I don't really understand the attraction of erecting small barns that in reality might or might not have been carpeted with afterbirth and hay; "I'll get to meet some Mormons." Because, truth be told, I've run into a couple before, but they were brief encounters of the "here's your frapuccino" variety, and I felt like I've never met a Mormon being, well, Mormon-ly.
To sum up, I'll say this: they were some of the most absurdly nice and polite folks I've met, second only to the Sikh couple I met a month ago.
And they had nativities! Lots of 'em ...
Until someone makes some kind of Harley Davidson-themed nativity scene, the above, a cast-iron piece from one of the local furnaces, Sloss, is perhaps the most badass nativity out there. Even if baby Jesus in his cradle sorta resembles a mortar and pestle.Anyway, more later.
