Swoosh. Swoosh. Molly twists around which causes her wings to flap. It’s the Wednesday before the church’s Christmas play on Sunday. She had insisted on wearing her angel wings and halo for rehearsal.
She can’t help but smile as they lay her baby brother into the empty manger. “Mav’rick is so much better than an old doll.” For years they had used one for baby Jesus. Since Mav’rick is three months old, he’s just the right size.
“You’re so right Molly,” the choir director Mr. Holbert agrees. “Our Christmas program this year will be unlike all the others.”
When Molly leans over and strokes Mav’rick’s brown hair, she feels her halo slide forward all little. “Hey, he doesn’t have a halo like Baby Jesus has in the pictures.”
“It’s okay Molly,” Mr. Holbert pats her head. “Halos were just used in nativity paintings to show His Holiness. Besides, we don’t have any extra halos and we don’t want to take money away from the Christmas Family Fund.”
“Yeah, quiet causing trouble.” Her big brother Jimmy warns. He’s playing one of the shepherds.
“She’s not doing that.” Mr. Holbert winks at her.
“It’s okay. Our momma is good at makin’ stuff. I can get her to help make one.”
“Sorry Sis, but mom’s making Roxy into a sheep.”
Molly crosses her arms. “Then I’ll make it myself and it’ll be most sparkly and pretty halo ever.”

********
“Sweetie, I’m so proud of you for making Maverick’s halo,” Molly’s momma tells her. “You can use my supplies.”
“Thank you, momma.” Molly looks around at all the wonderful stuff her momma uses to make crafty things. First, she picks up popsicle sticks. “I can glue these into a circle.”
“You could, but they don’t bend too well.”
Molly reaches into another drawer and pulls out some pipe cleaners. “I’ll use these.”
“Good idea. While you work on that, I’m going to sew more cotton on Roxy’s sheep costume.”
Roxy is Jimmy’s dog. Since sheep aren’t house broken, they can’t be inside the church. Her momma said that meant they aren’t potty trained. So, she’s making a sheep costume for Roxy to wear.
Molly twists the pipe cleaners together until they form a circle. “I need to see if it fits Mav’rick.” She walks toward his bassinet.
“Let’s not do that. The ends may scratch his face,” her momma warns. “You know, it may be better to attach it to the manger so that it’s over his head not on it.”
“Okay momma.” Molly twists the halo around in her hand. Now it needs to sparkle. She lays out some construction paper on the floor. Then she dribbles glue all over the halo. Next, she pops open a bottle of gold glitter and tips it over to sprinkle it onto the halo. Instead, all of the glitter comes all out at once. “Oh no! I’m sorry momma. I just wanted it to make it sparkle like a real halo.”
She looks at the mess. “It’s alright Molly. At least the glitter is on the construction paper and not the floor. But you shouldn’t use glitter anyway because some of it could fall into Maverick’s eyes.” She hands Molly more pipe cleaners. “Make another, but no glitter on this one.”
Molly glances down to the pipe cleaners in her hand. How can she make a sparkly halo without glitter? Giving a loud sigh, she looks over to the shelves. “That’s it!”