Bethlehem

What a busy day we had. First, we went to an awesome Child SHARE Christmas party. We had a great time with our friends: Peggy, Rick, George, and Alex. The kids got some presents, took pictures with Santa. Layla was reluctant to do that and finally didn’t take a pic with the man in red until the party was almost over.

We headed back home with full bellies and goodies. Then we did some errands and then we went home. As I was feeding them, I was trying to debate if we should go to Journey of Faith’s Journey to Bethlehem. I was on the fence. I wanted my mom to go, but the workmen were still working on the house and didn’t look like they were going to stop anytime soon. It was getting chilly outside and it was an outdoor, see baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary sort of event. Did we really need to go? I remembered this was the last weekend for it so it was either today or tomorrow, but tomorrow we were going to church in the OC.

Vandy was over so I asked if he wanted to go. He said, yes. After dinner, I told everyone to grab their jackets with hoods. We got everyone piled into the car and off we went in the dark to find the church.

“Mommy, why do spotlights move?” Jory asked me, as we traveled.

Uh, where did that question come from? “That’s just the way they are. Why do you ask?”

No answer.

I kept the station on KOST, our 24 hour Christmas music station, and drove on. We arrived at the church and there was no place to park. The line was wrapped around the block. We should have parked back at the high school. We circled back and parked. Based on the line, I figured the double stroller, one of the greatest buys of all time, was a necessity. In the girls went and off we went.

As we walked around the block to get in line, I saw a gigantic, movie premiere type spotlight. I pointed it out to Jory and the girls. Amazing that he saw that when we were miles away.

“Jory saw these lights in the car. It was like we were the wise men following the star,” I told them. I’m sure that was the point.

The baby with the itty bitty bladder had to go to the bathroom, of course. What a blessing teens are. I left Vandy in line with the older two while I went to scout out a bathroom, which was much harder than it needed to be. We came back and the line had really moved. We found Vandy and that’s when my eyes were opened.

There were people dressed in period clothing. They gave us shekels, they said they were needed to pay taxes. There were singers playing instruments, I had never seen before. We weren’t just going to see Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we were about to walk into Bethlehem. We saw Roman guards in their full armor. As soon as we past through the “city gates”, there was hay at our feet and stuff everywhere.

People were making grain, sharpening weapons, selling goods. I bought some baklava for 2 shekels. The girls bought leather bracelets for a shekel a piece. We were told if we went in another direction, we could buy jewels to go on the bracelets. The kids went “bowling” or the equivalent of 0 AD bowling.

I heard a voice and looked around, then looked up. It was an angel on top of the building, then suddenly there was a host of angels singing with what looked like water streaming down the side of the building.
I was so not expecting this. I thought it would be like a little play, but this was far beyond anything I could have imagined. As we were walking, I heard someone shouting. I looked over and it was a man with a pregnant woman on a donkey looking for a place for his wife to have their baby.

“Mommy is Mary real?” Rowan asked.

“No, this isn’t the real Mary. She’s just pretending,” I informed her.

A man had room in his stable, but no room in his inn. So we watched Joseph carry Mary to the stable. We got in line and made it inside the stable and saw Mary holding Jesus with Joseph standing near. A shepherd spoke on angels telling him about the birth of Jesus. Joseph marveled at the birth of Messiah and how they had waited 700 years for Him. That hit me, 700 years! God’s chosen people - - generations died waiting for the One that would save them.

Jory got to learn how to sharpen an axe.

“Mommy, you told me Mary wasn’t real. She was real,” Rowan reprimanded me.

“Yes, Mary was real, but she’s not the real- - “ Oh never mind!

A great time was had by all and this will definitely be added to must do things at Christmas. A nice reminder of what the season is about.