A three-year-old was helping his mother unpack their nativity set. He announced each piece as he unwrapped it from the tissue paper. “Here’s the donkey!” he said. “Here’s a king and a camel!”

When he finally got to the tiny infant lying in a manger he proclaimed, “Here’s baby Jesus in his car seat!”

Well, it wasn’t a car seat, but that would be an easy mistake to make, wouldn’t it?

We all love nativity scenes. Baby Jesus in the manger . . . Mary and Joseph hovering reverently over the holy child . . . shepherds, wise men, assorted cattle, sheep and camels . . . and, of course, a donkey.

But, as someone has noted, there is always one person missing from these nativity scenes. “Correct me if I am wrong,” writes the Rev. Darrik Acre, “for I imagine that collectively we have seen a tremend…