A plastic baby Jesus figure stolen from a creche has been returned -- and the grateful suburban Milwaukee family says it is a miracle.

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"It gave me goose bumps," said Don Gall after the figure appeared on his doorstep. "It's not just a baby Jesus. It's the baby Jesus."

The figure was snatched three weeks ago, days after Gall laid it in the manger outside his home, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The discovery brought Gall's wife, Terry, and 8-year-old daughter Dana to tears.

After no one responded to a lawn sign appealing to the thief to return the figure, the family had given up. Suddenly, the figure reappeared on their doorstep.

A carpet salesman had been talking with a customer who told him about the theft -- and a light bulb went off.

Three weeks earlier Sam Hafez found a baby Jesus figure on his front porch. Newly married and eager to conceive, he thought a friend had played a prank on him.

Hafez put two and two together, returned the figure -- and sure enough, it was the same one. He also discovered he lived around the corner from the Galls.