Baby Jesus Stolen, Taken On Road Trip

[matcom]

<snip>

John and Joan Leising were quite upset last year when somebody stole the plastic infant Jesus statue from the lighted manger set outside their North Buffalo home.
This year, they have the Jesus statue back - and a pretty weird story to tell at Christmas parties.

"When we tell people about it, they just look at us and say, "Wow, that really happened?' " Joan Leising said. "Then, we show them the photo album."

The Leisings, residents of Depew Avenue, take pride in their annual Christmas decorations. They have displayed a brightly lighted outdoor manger set - with statues of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men and other biblical figures - for the past five years. They were hurt Dec. 23, 2005, when they looked outside and realized the baby Jesus statue, a relatively inexpensive plastic model about 18 inches tall, was missing from the manger.

In the statue's place, someone had left a note, saying they needed the statue for something and would return it in three days. The incident was disturbing to the Leisings and their daughter, Julia, 10, who are proud of their Catholic faith and thought the theft might be some kind of angry show of protest.

"It kind of shook my faith in our neighborhood. How could somebody do something like that to us?" said John Leising, a veteran Buffalo firefighter. "But because of the note, I thought there was a chance we might get it back in a few days."

Joan Leising, a hospital nurse, felt the same way.

But weeks passed, and then months, and the statue was not returned. Joan Leising started wondering if she might be able to find another similar baby Jesus statue at a garage sale.

Then, one morning in late August, John Leising opened his door and found the statue lying on his doorstep. With it were another note and a photo album.

"Please read this letter in its entirety before passing judgment on the actions and events that have taken place," the letter began. "We are simply a group of young adults who wished to show the baby Jesus a better life than he would have seen cooped up in an attic crawl space. He has traveled over counties and states, met people and animals alike. We have done our best to show the baby Jesus the many glorious aspects of our world."

The photo album was full of snapshots taken of their Jesus statue at various locations all over New York State. Someone had posed the statue in front of Thruway signs in Binghamton, Rochester, Albany and Poughkeepsie. The statue was photographed at the Rip Van Winkle Bridge south of Albany and at a psychiatric center in Rochester.

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20061219/1022330.asp

[underpants]

1. Not original-the traveling Gnome story

Supposedly some guy did the same thing with his mother-in-law's gnone (one of them) from her garden. At least that is how the story was originally told to me. He took the gnome all over the world or mailed it people all over the world, something like that.

and now it is a regular on TV ads (very clever too).

[AllegroRondo]

2. That was done in the movie Amelie also

A young lady stole her father's garden gnome, and gave it to a friend who was an airline hostess. She took pictures of it all over the world and sent them back.
Happy ending, though. The father had always wanted to travel but was too scared to try it on his own. After seeing his gnome do it, he took a long vacation.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. The first time I had heard about that was...

back in 1988 from an article in a British newspaper! The Brits are fairly gnome crazy and a couple had their's taken on a trip around Europe. I kept the clipping for years because I was so tickled by the story.

I also participated in one such event -- a group of Brendan Fraser fans passed a stuffed "George of the Jungle" doll around the world between fans. Each person who got it was supposed to show it around their town and send some local goodies along when "George" was put back in his shipping crate.

When he came to me in SF, I was able to take him around for pictures to the locations used in the film. He also got a nipple ring and a tattoo while in the City. :evilgrin: He got send to the next stop with a San Francisco fog globe and some Ghirardelli chocolate.

By the end, "George" had made his way around the US, Europe, Australia, and Tasmania!

[deucemagnet]

4. LOL! That happened in my old neighborhood!

The university is nearby. It's probably the work of students.