* oh little town *

Yesterday, Jeremey headed out for his last FTX of the course.

Generally, the kiddos and I have 'girls night' when he's gone, we get takeout and watch

'Hairspray' or '7 Brides for 7 Brothers', but last night I decided we'd do something a little different. I saw an advertisement for a 'Walk Through Bethlehem' that the Hopewell Baptist Church was putting on. We've had a little bit of the 'gimmies', not to mention several appearances of 'grinchy' behavior, and so this seemed to be the perfect way to help the kiddos understand what Christmas is all about.

It was magical.

The church itself was absolutely gorgeous, and while we waited for our turn to be escorted through Bethlehem, we were serenaded by their youth gospel choir. Annie was absolutely enchanted, and Abbie now wants to play the drums :) Soon, it was our turn to visit Bethlehem. I was amazed at the lengths they took to bring the Christmas story to life. The church was huge, and they had absolutely transformed it! Black tarps hung from the ceiling, with holes cut to let the 'starlight' through. The floors were covered with dirt, and the walls were lined with merchant booths. Merchants, beggars, animals (seriously ... real sheep, chickens, and donkeys!) and townspeople wandered around peddling their goods, begging for help, and finding their way to the census tables. Roman soldiers paroled the 'town', hustling off the beggars and demanding orderly presentation to the census table to be counted. We wandered around, transported back to the time of our Savior, in the town of His birth.

The girls petted the sheep...

sampled the merchants wares...

danced with the local children ... and then all the townspeople froze, the lights dimmed, and we saw two people enter the town, leading a donkey and looking around anxiously.

Mary and Joseph, looking for a place to stay. They approached the innkeeper, who told them there was no room for them in his inn. Mary looked exhausted, and Joseph was so concerned. They wandered off, the lights came back on, and the townspeople went about their business. I was in tears. I came thinking it would be such a good experience for my girls ... help them understand what it is we celebrate, what it is we should learn, but it touched something inside of me, as well. Abbie was so worried about poor Mary, and asked millions of questions (not to mention shooting some nasty looks at that innkeeper). We moved on...

and watched them bake breads and meat pies. We moved outside the church, and saw the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. We moved outside the stable, and noticed the donkey that Joseph had tethered.

Music started playing, and a star appeared. An angel appeared....

"For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"

(forgive the blurry picture, I was trying to keep a hold of both kids and stand still in the crowd, which was trying to move forward)

We were ushered into the stable, where we saw beautiful Mary and loving Joseph marveling over the tiny little bundle in the manger at their feet. It was beautiful.

I wish we would be here for Christmas next year. I can't imagine a more perfect start to our Christmas season.