Tenten adjusted the manger ever so slightly so that it rested evenly between Mary and Joseph.
"There," she said, satisfied.
To Tenten, it was a work of art. Each piece, except for baby Jesus, the only piece left of her childhood nativity set, had been made with her own hands. The set had been one of the few things she had kept when her parents passed away when she was only nine, and it had meant the world to her. Unfortunately, during the shuffle of moving from an apartment to a house, the only thing she had been able to find was the small porcelain doll and manger. To an untrained eye the nativity scene would look like a mess of paper coated in pencil crayon and blots of glue. But to this kunoichi, there was no better thing to be placed upon her fireplace mantel.
"Tenten, I'm home," Neji called from the entry way. Smiling, Tenten turned to greet her husband at the entrance with a quick kiss on the cheek before taking his hand and leading him towards the living room.
"I have something to show you," she said excitedly. Stopping before the fireplace, she threw her hands in the direction of the mantel and sang: "Ta da!"
Her husband blinked and didn't say a word. Then he squinted and leaned forward to get a better look. Two crudely made paper figures smiled down at their ceramic son. A herd of cotton ball sheep rested peacefully behind Jesus while a marshmallow and toothpick shepherd kept a careful watch over his flock. To the left of the scene, three Popsicle stick Magi with paper faces glued to them sat taped to the cardboard that was the stable ground. Small pieces of cut up yellow paper served as straw and were strewn across the cardboard, creating a rather ripped and wrinkled mess. To the right, a cardboard camel, cow and horse stood staring down at the baby. He stared for a full minute before smiling and turning to his wife.
"This is supposed to be a nativity scene?"
"Neji! I spent hours cutting, gluing, drawing, coloring and taping this together! You should be proud I was able to restore it to its former glory! I even included some personal touches." Tenten scowled up at him, arms crossed across her chest.
Neji turned to look at his wife's "art" once more. Smirking, he flicked a yellow painted mini shuriken that hung from the cardboard roof of the stable that served as a replacement for the star.
"It's perfect."