It's Christmas in August for the town of Carrick-on-Shannon tonight.

Remember that play you'd be in at Christmas time each year in national school? Some of us were lucky enough to be Joseph or Mary while the less fortunate were cast as animals. Well tonight, men of Leitrim, if ye play your cards right, ye could be shifting one of these lovely angels or shepherds or cows. A hen party has hit Carrick-on-Shannon for the weekend dressed as a Christmas Nativity play. It's all to celebrate Mary Rose Melia from Mountmellick in Laois getting hitched. The group pulled out all the stops for their Nativity, including the wise men, shepherds, angels, a donkey, a cow, baby Jesus, the bride-to-be as the Virgin Mary and a blow-up doll as Joseph. Friend of the bride Sarah Morris got in touch and explained; "Mary Rose was the Virgin Mary for every Nativity play in primary school and wore the same costume from junior infants to 6th class so it was an obvious theme choice for the hen party." We don't know what we're more concerned about - the fact that the livestock will be doing shots tonight or the fate of poor blow-up Joseph. Watch out Carrick-on-Shannon!