Christmas in Bethlehem

One perk about your brother being the Bishop is that he feels bad about picking on you when you were kids, so he lets you make suggestions for the ward. I've wanted to have a ward "Christmas in Bethlehem" for years, and suggested it in ward council in September and it was decided that we'd do it.

One drawback about your brother being the Bishop is that then you get put in charge. So this year I got to plan and carry out our ward Christmas in Bethlehem. It was a serious undertaking and pretty exhausting, but I was so happy with how everything turned out.  The invitations were designed like small scrolls:

We set up the gym in the church to look like a Judean marketplace:

We set up a table for kids to decorate dreidels and set up a manger scene on the stage. Each family was given a bag of coins (pennies) to use to buy food for their families during the night.

Everyone was asked to come dressed in biblical attire, which added so much to the authentic feeling of the evening. The food was incredible! Brother and Sister Steward cooked the most delicious beef and chicken skewers and the Carnahans made baba ganoush and pita bread and amazing lentil soup. We had Greek salad and the ward members brought fruits and cheeses and breads and a huge table of yummy desserts. Man oh man.

 

 

 

I didn't take any more of my own pictures because I was running around, but thankfully Katie took some as did my friend Peachy, and I borrowed them. Here they are. Thank you ladies!

(Peachy and a very pregnant biblical me)

When most people had finished eating, we dimmed the lights and without announcing anything, a couple playing the parts of Mary and Joseph (Michaela and Joe Thomas) began to walk through the crowd. A beautiful cello rendition of "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel" faded in and we watched as Mary and Joseph were turned away from the Inn, and then shown to the stable. Noah Donald, who was just about to leave on his mission, dressed as the angel and announced to the shepherds and the audience that the Savior had been born. His first missionary experience! Then our Mary, with her real new sweet baby, sang the most beautiful lullaby. The bishopric dressed as wise men came and knelt to worship and present their gifts. That was when I lost it a bit. It was just tender to see those grown men kneel in humility at the Savior's feet because they knew who he was.

Here is a video that was taken that night:

I really needed this dose of true Christmas spirit and it made such a difference to how I felt about the rest of the season. So grateful for all everyone did to make this wonderful night happen, and so grateful to have been able to be a part of it.