Advance warning - this post is all about nostalgia, skip if that bores you.
I saw the moving crib for the first time as an adult - one evening cycling home up Parnell Street (much more of a hill than you'd think) I decided to call in. The first section is mechanical models of some Old Testament scenes depicting God's saving grace - can't remember all of them, but Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, Daniel in the lions' den. But on the other side of the passage were a few models they'd been given and were too thrifty to reject - I remember a clown playing cymbals.
The third section had the five scenes from the Joyful mysteries - the annunciation, the visitation, the presentation and the finding of young Jesus after he went AWOL, and in the middle a big nativity with all the familiar characters.
But the middle section held many more items they'd been given, including models of jolly monks swilling wine, farm animals (including pigs), a brass band, and, totally out of scale with everything else, a hen laying eggs.
And on one side, a stuffed black labrador-type dog, with a label saying 'this is Fred; for many years he lived in our monastery. On several occasions he saved people from drowning in the River Liffey. When he died we had him stuffed, we felt it was his due'.
That was the stage when I started laughing uncontrollably, which is a wonderful grace on a foggy January evening.
Overall I felt it was totally the way Monks do their religion - firmly rooted in scripture, but not losing sight of life's moments of fun.
I told my Belfast (methodist) friend about it and for several years, while her grandchildren were small, travelling down to Dublin to see it became one of the treats of their Christmas - much cheaper than Santa, no queues, and lots to talk about.
I'm going to have free travel soon - maybe I'll take a bus from 'down the country' and go for a visit.