Tumping towards Bethlehem

Sunday morning at church, during the Godly Play time, the teacher was telling the kids in my room about the Holy Family and their trip to Bethlehem. She told them that since there was no room at the inn, they had to stay out in the manger with the cows.

I smirked, as it seemed yet another example of a teacher just not knowing the material. A manger, I thought smugly, was the trough in which to cattle feed was placed. Then I became doubtful. Had I been wrong all my life? Was a manger actually a stable, hut, or rickety lean-to for livestock?

I looked it up a while ago, and I was right, even though I long ago lost my copy of Hamilton’s Christian Mythology. All those years of Catholic education occasionally pay off in brief moments of smugness.

I also noted with approval that the teacher told the kids to back away from the lit candle, “…or it might tump over.”

Tump is a fine word. Perfectly cromulent, though underutilized.

I tried to watch the Spike Lee joint “Inside Man”, but it kept freezing/sticking in our DVD player. So I ate a snack and watched a little of “Fellowship of the Ring” instead. I just tried “Inside Man” on the computer DVD player here at my desk, and it stuck there, too. I eagerly await a replacement from NetFlix.