to think that a riding helmet will ruin the aesthetic of Mary on a donkey?

[Slubberdegullion]

Dd2 has been asked to be Mary on Christmas Eve for the evening outdoor service at our village church. She has to ride on a donkey (Lucius) up the church path through the folk of the village (bearing lanterns). It's all very tastefully done. She then dismounts and gets given the baby Jesus. A tableaux is formed in the church porch of all the other characters. It's Christmas Level 11.

The issue of the riding helmet has been raised again. Last year dd1 was Mary yes this is a Nativity top trumps stealth boast win and we turned the riding helmet down, because well, it would look LUDICROUS for a start.

I mean, really, is riding for all of, I dunno, 25m up a church path at a sedate pace that dangerous? I think not, but I await festive donkey related horror stories with interest.

Car doors can be very unpredictable.

It really is. It's throbbing away and I can't garner any sympathy because I'd have to tell people how I did it.

Does Lucius have Luscious Locks?

Yes Reelife you never know when the fact that you've pushed a car door shut might mean that it's going to....shut. On your leg. Just didn't see it coming.

In our school, Mary is always the girl least likely to be able to learn a line ... other children get interesting lines, songs, dances, etc; Mary just sits, holding doll.

This thread is hilarious! Or is it the beer...

Strikethrough fail.

Top tip Ling.

Don't exit a car head first. Just saying.

I cropped the dds out.

Lucius.

He's darker than I remember.

That's the beer

Duh, that was to Bathsheba

Although Slubber your memory failure might be due to beer too, I dunno....

LaBelle, just what are you trying to say? eh?

Donkey? What a fancy church! Our shepherds still wear tea towels on their heads!

Personally I think she would be fine without a helmet.

I hope Lucius will be wearing high-vis.

The thing on Mary's head can be called a veil, a mantle, a hijab, a headscarf (if you don't know any other names) and even a maphorion.
It is often blue.
Google is great.

Or, indeed a hennin. Mind you, I've no idea what they look like. You won't be asked to make one, will you Slubber?

LingdeLong - it could be worse. Brian Harvey, him of East 17 fame, ran himself over while driving his car in a freak accident that I truly wish had involved donkeys but actually involved potatoes and the over-consumption thereof.

I like the giant cranium that will be created by having a wimpole over a helmet. People will marvel at quite how clever Slubber's DD must be to have a brain that big.

A maphorion!

Well that's my new word from the day.

And my second lady-head-wear word learnt from mn. The first being a henin. Mary doesn't wear a henin.

Just curious... Who actually raised the idea of a helmet in the first place?

OMG TOTAL HENIN XPOST

Sunday school leader has offered the helmet.

He said: "I was starving so I baked three jacket potatoes and stuffed them down. They were big. I put cheese on, then tuna mayonnaise and I ate the lot."

Poor Brian Harvey of East 17 fame.

Hennin. nn

She's not exactly riding the donkey is she. More sitting on it surrounded by adults. It's hardly sticking her on the 3.45 at Aintree.

Donkeys are pretty much sofas with legs. We watched many child riding them without helmets in Weymouth and it didn't even cross my mind that anyone thought they should!