Some years ago, a prankster went throughout a Chicago neighborhood, stealing the baby Jesuses from people's front-yard nativity sets. Eventually, they all turned up - all 32 of them - in the yard of one woman.

After the word went out that this was where the missing creche figures could be found, the crime victims showed up, one by one, to claim their baby Jesus.

The problem was, each person tried to walk away with a baby Jesus that was nicer than the one they'd originally had: one less weatherbeaten, with a fresher coat of paint, than the one they'd lost.

They were trying to "trade up." They wanted a Jesus without blemish or flaw, and - can we surmise? - one displaying no trace of humanity.