I couldn’t fight the fanatics, so I joined them. I bought a Cape Cod crèche at the convention made by Nathaniel Wordell of South Chatham, Mass. Mary’s a mermaid; the Wise Men are crab, crocodile and sea horse. The “livestock” are a frog, a turtle and starfish. Joseph has a trident.

Sadly, it did not draw my brother and me closer. “That is sacrilegious,” Kevin said, staring in horror. “The Virgin Mary does not have a tail.”