MANGER & JULIE

It’s April and the mantlepiece is littered with sheep dwarfed by their gamboling lambs, the baby Jesus lies in a manger crushed under the weight of his Fimo pretender, a flocked Bambi cowers outside while green butterflies the size of kites fly over the roof. Their home was constructed out of vegetable boxes that Kiran collected from the local market in Dalston. Over 17 years the strange menagerie has grown. When Kiran and Julie’s son Max was 3, he sculpted some piggies from Fimo. Julie picked up some mismatched kings in Naples and a camel from a local charity shop, even a Spanish nun, St Rita – bought because she shares a name with Julie’s mother. This motley crew live together in perfect harmony on a bed of pine needles from last year’s Christmas tree. Even a candle setting the manger alight couldn’t disrupt the peace. Kiran arrived home to see flames licking from the roof, he threw the burning mass into a sink. The only evidence now is the slightly charred tummy of an angel and a few blackened beams. The manger is the sweet and eccentric centrepiece of the room, pointless then to have it out just for Christmas.

07 Apr 2013