I prayed the Rosary this morning in front of the nativity in one of the side chapels at St. Vincent Ferrer, after Mass. The floor was hard and cold under my knees, but not uncomfortable. There were Christmas tree branches layered like a carpet in the manger itself, where the statuary is, and the smell of fresh pine was with me the entire time. Whoever is in charge of maintaining the tableau had not yet placed the statue of the infant Jesus in the spot where it will eventually go, tomorrow, because of course today is only Christmas Eve day, and not Christmas morning. And so visually the nativity is still in the season of Advent.