I don’t know a holiday that involves more yearning than Christmas. Kids develop an insatiable interest in chimney flue clearances, while parents seem more interested in a long winter’s nap than the prospect of clattering on the roof. But all the expended anticipatory energy is what levitates Christmas in our imaginations. We want everything to be as it was when we were children.

But I find the most memorable Christmases are those where everything doesn’t unfold as expected. That’s why I love the Living Nativity at St Rose. It always includes a few unexpected happenings. This year the Paproskis’ beautifully big-eyed, long-lashed cow was accompanied by a 2-month-old calf that was so ravenous that Father Bob was left standing in awe, delaying the opening prayer as all the audience watched the calf consume a large bucketful of grain. Only the calf’s ears were left peaking out of the bucket.

As the attendant from Farm on Wheels was unloading the usual llama, sheep, and donkey, there was a surprise addition — a miniature pony. Everyone was puzzled about where the pony would be placed in the nativity until the man explained that the donkey would not go anywhere without his friend, the pony, leading the way. So this year the donkey was led by Joseph while Mary led the pony. Perhaps it was a twist to the actual event, or maybe it actually happened that way two millennia ago, who really knows? The two sheep also were rowdy this year. They apparently either wanted to be with the pony, or they were simply rejoicing, because they jumped and bucked throughout the portrayals, requiring extra care and intervention by the farm attendant.

The Living Nativity wasn’t the only wild show last week.

 To rather lukewarm reviews, Howard Lasher made his Broadway debut on Wednesday night, December 15, when he joined Dame Edna on stage at the Music Box Theatre for a skit in which he played a hospital patient, complete with gown and drip-bag. He read his three lines without stumbling, and with no reaction from the audience except for some lone support from his wife, Jeanette. Howard has been sitting by the phone since that night, fully expecting some important producer or director to call and tap him for a role on the Great White Way. So far the phone has not rung, not even a wrong number, and he is becoming hoarse belting out tunes from Phantom, Oklahoma, and Cats. Probably Dame Edna hit the nail on the head when she commented, “Some people just look better in the audience.”

I hope Santa has some extra special items in his bag for all the Newtown Girl Scouts who helped to make Christmas even a bit brighter for the 97 recipient families who were adopted during the Newtown Fund’s annual Holiday Basket drive. The scouts handcrafted more than 100 holiday wreaths, one of which accompanied every basket delivery that went out from Sandy Hook School last Saturday morning.

And speaking of the Newtown Fund — how about those packers and drivers who got all the gift baskets out to qualified families in record time. Adopt-A-Family organizer Rick Mazzariello said some of the longtime volunteer drivers made two, three, or four trips before all the baskets were gone. With that kind of speed and efficiency, it bodes well for Santa’s reindeer who are eyeing retirement...or anyone considering giving up their spot on the NASCAR circuit.

I had a chance to visit with a trio of Santa’s “back-up” reindeer when they visited Edmond Town Hall last weekend. I couldn’t help but notice that one of them named Lily only had antlers on one side of her head. But she told me with a thick reindeer accent, that she recently lost the other in a dust-up with another reindeer and would likely appear more balanced in a few months when a new and larger replacement grows back.

Feeling eagle-eyed? It’s not too late to sign up with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Wildlife Division to take part in the 2005 Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey for the State of Connecticut, and you might not have to drive far to participate. The 25th annual census is scheduled for Saturday, January 8, from 7 to 11 am, and the DEP is looking for volunteers to join other bald eagle watchers at Lake Waramaug in New Preston or at Margerie Reservoir in Danbury. In 2004, 92 bald eagles were seen statewide and DEP scientists are hoping to bust that number in 2005. Connecticut’s bald eagle count will be added to nationwide totals that are coordinated by the US Department of Interior, the US Geological Survey, and the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center at the Snake River Field Station in Oregon. If you want to help, email your name and mailing address to DEP Wildlife Division Biologist Julie Victoria at julie.victoria@po.state.ct.us.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Time for me to take my place on the hearth and await the arrival of the big guy in red. But I’ll be back next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.