Las Posadas -

'Mary, Joseph and donkey arrived a little early for the carol service in Winterborne Whitechurch on Sunday so they wandered around the church and saw a tableau of figures that bore a strange resemblance to themselves. They couldn't understand why there was an empty manger that everybody was looking at or why there appeared to be kings with presents on offer. Feeling a little embarrassed that they had not got anything to offer they carried on looking around the church'

'They came upon a strange bit of furniture called a pulpit. Joseph said that he had heard somewhere that it was customary for somebody in a dog collar to give a sermon from the pulpit. They knew that they would be a service at 6 o'clock and wondered who was going to be the person doing this? Joseph said that he had heard that it was often a visitor who did it and as Donkey looked the most like a dog out of the three of them that it would have to be him that gave the sermon if no one else appeared. Donkey was petrified at the prospect and his legs started to shake. They were all very relieved when they saw people starting to arrive, especially Donkey. They moved back into the church where they could watch people coming in.'

 

 'All three of them stood and watched as the villagers came into the church and sang carols. The singing was lovely and the church looked beautiful with twinkly lights. They heard people reading from a book and it slowly started to explain the story about the people that they had come across in the crib.
Donkey's back legs had been shaking so much at the thought of having to speak out loud that he had to sit down. He thought he could hear someone mutter 'wonky donkey' but decided to ignore it and listen to the readers tell a remarkable story of angels, shepherds, and a new born baby.'