A night in bethlehem

Our ward party was AWESOME this year.

The committee requested beforehand that we come dressed in our Bethlehem finest. So naturally I dug out the Halloween box in order to retrieve our costumes from our unfortunate Elizabeth and Zechariah incident. (Lesson learned: do not dress as biblical figures for Halloween. It's irreverent.)

A few cuts and ties later and we had 5 fairly respectable outfits. I didn't have to sew anything and had a chance to use a little packing tape, so I was happy.

When we walked into the church building we were directed to the chapel where we heard a few brief words from our Bishop and some instructions. We made our way back through the overflow where we signed our names to the census and were taxed (canned goods) before we entered the city gates. Each family brought a blanket to sit on and we were given a small bag of "money" in order to purchase a meal for ourselves. The cultural hall was set up with tents (not pup, they were beautiful!) in which you could purchase a part of your meal: bread, meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, dates, etc. There were also wells (so awesome) here and there that you could go to and ladle some water. That is where we ran into a few problems. I was flying solo that night (Mark was working toward a crazy deadline) and lets try to picture me with 4 kids on a blanket with 5 cups of water and feet going everywhere.

Wet.

So it was a bit soggy, but I loved the idea of it and I know the kids had a great time. I appreciated that they put so much work and planning into a Christ centered Christmas activity.

Can we do it again next year?

I'll bring Mark and 4 sippy cups.