“Dad would build a creche at Christmas with dummies from Holt Renfrew and Johnson Walker or Hudson Bay. We’d collect wool to place on sheep forms and use Loretta’s doll for Baby Jesus. Buntie, our little Welsh Corgie, would lie down by the crib and protect the doll.
There was lots of traffic on our corner—82 Street and Jasper Avenue—and Dad’s work as a dentist gave us a good audience.
We were MaryBeth (Elizabeth), Peggy (Margaret), Doreen, me, Loretta, Patrick, and Michael: the O’Neills.
Every year, we’d add to it. Really, it was a helping project in 3D, with manual installation and everyone pitching in.
We went on to incorporate the Town of Bethlehem on the porch, with canvas painted like rocks and boxes with holes in them and lights behind to look like windows.
It’s so much fun doing something gigantic.”