Joseph's Amazing Camels

Three of Joseph's Amazing Camels from Warwickshire were in Scarborough yesterday.They had been hired to bring the wise men to Jesus in the crib outside Woolworth's in the main shopping precinct. Naturally the crowds turned out to see them as they had two weeks earlier to see Santa in his sleigh drawn by live reindeer. The camels belong to the only camel racing company in the country. A spokesman said "It's a unique event for a unique time of the year and we hope it is something that adds to the fun of Christmas".

Across in the Irish Republic at Santa's Magical Animal Kingdom at Westmeath, in their respective pens, piglets donkeys and lambs are cosily light by the reflected coloured lights of the Christmas tree. One evening someone failed to secure the pen of the camels. Gus, an immense, shaggy, intimidating beast is over from Morocco and is this year's star attraction. He pushes the gate of the pen and it gives way. By the time staff return Gus has scoffed 200 mince pies and is on his sixth can of Guinness. The mess was appalling as though a bomb had gone off. The proprietor commented "Gus is just a lovable rogue and rarely spits at the customers. Who can blame him for celebrating Christmas early?" After Christmas he will return to Morocco but he'll be back next year by which time there will be a more secure lock on his pen.

Not to be out done by these animal capers the Church of England has got in on the act too. In Norwich Cathedral to be precise. A farmer has brought four of his flock of sheep to town. They are from a breed descended from the kind of sheep that would have been there in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Led on halters they take pride of place in the cathedral candlelight procession to the singing of carols. It will have been worth the mound of red tape that has had to be surmounted to get them there - a movement licence in quadruplicate to get them there, ditto to get them home again afterwards, plus a performing animals license.

What is it about animals and the Christmas story? It was St Francis who first created the live Christmas crib scene in a cave where the midnight mass was celebrated for the people of the mountain community he was visiting at the time.

"Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man".