“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Current events can be like a shaken snow globe, blurry and chaotic and uncertain at first. Then, in the wake of the chaos, when things settle, a certain relief can come, and occasionally clarity, if not always beauty.

So it is with the great Rehoboth Beach Nativity Controversy of 2018.

As the controversy was fresh and swirling, we debated all sides of the issue in the newsroom hallway. Separation of church and state can help avoid needless conflict relative to the religious freedom clause in our Constitution’s First Amendment. On the other hand, it’s undeniable that Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the birth of Jesus Christ. We’re allowed to declare it loudly and fearlessly because of that same amendment’s freedom of speech clause.

And the courts, who look into these matters a lot more deeply than I do, have said that nativity scenes in public places are acceptable as long as they are just one part of a larger visual Christmas celebration. As the storm in Rehoboth Beach settled, it became clear that the nativity scene on the bandstand property has not only been a decades-old tradition for this resort founded at first as a Methodist summer retreat, but has always been just a part of the city’s larger Christmas celebration. Christmas trees and Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman, and so many different expressions of holiday spirit in the annual Christmas parade have always added up to the joy of the holiday. It’s hard to argue with peace, love, and joy, and the unity they all engender.

Rehoboth Beach officials drew too quickly when they fired off orders to have the nativity scene removed from the bandstand property this year. Leaving it in place as part of the larger city-wide Christmas celebration was clearly defensible and would have withstood any unlikely legal challenge.

The nativity scene has been in the news in the past, but never because of any legal challenge. In the waning joyfulness of the Christmas holiday in 1993, thieves stole the ceramic baby Jesus figure from the straw-filled manger. John Brown, Rehoboth’s one-man parks department for many years, was usually responsible along with the Kiwanis Club for placing the nativity scene.

Reporting the theft, he said it was the first time in decades that any part of the scene had ever been stolen. In an article in the Cape Gazette, he asked for the return of the figure. “We’re not interested in arresting anyone,” he said. “We would just like the figure back.” No report on whether that happened, and John is no longer with us to answer.

Then on Dec. 21, 1998 - the winter solstice - police reported that vandals rewrote the nativity scene by moving some of the figures around, including repositioning two sheep into a very loving - they called it mating - embrace. Probably holiday revelers under the influence of liquid holiday joy.

Other than those incidents, and the ravages of time and neglect, the Rehoboth Beach nativity scene has co-existed quietly by the sea with its humble message of peace and hope, amidst louder and more brightly colored joys of the season.

In a moment of reflection, Mayor Paul Kuhns said the controversy created a black eye for Rehoboth Beach. The good news is that black eyes usually look worse than they are and go away in a few days. The controversy has been a learning experience for this young Kuhns administration.

It’s not the first mistake, nor will it be the last.

It also illuminated the depth of feeling around a long-standing Rehoboth tradition and shone a light - when the swirling chaos settled - on the worn-out and damaged nativity scene that needs sprucing up before next year so it can sparkle in the midst of the holiday celebration so important for Rehoboth Beach.