The Woods: Welcome to Bethlehem December 12 Is it the Beard, or the Baby??

In November, Candice asked me if Mike and I would be willing to play Mary and Joseph for our ward's Christmas program. I agreed and didn't think much about it til the week of. The activity committee was going to transform our church building into Bethlehem. Everyone who attended were to be dressed in "Bethlehem" attire and we were to go to Bethlehem to be taxed. We were all given coins that we could buy from the different vendors.

I worried about this because we didn't have robes are the right colored towels to make clothes for everyone to wear. Kaylie was going to be baby Jesus and Cody and Decker had the option to be shepherds or Angels. They chose to be angels.

I'm part of a buy nothing group in Woodinville, where you can give and receive items at no cost...so I put a "want" out there that I needed some brown or white sheets to make some costumes. One lady gifted me a tan sheet that we used for Joseph and out of the fabric "round robin" I got some white fabric to make the kids costumes. It was perfect for the angels. I used Kaylie's sleep sack as a pattern for all 3 costumes and just adjusted the length for each one. Cody's was made out of a satin and Decker and Kaylie's were made out of some stretchy cotton. I did this all on Saturday the day of the party.

We lent out our two pop up tents for the evening and they were transformed into shops and food centers. I baked some chicken legs along with many others for the night. They were supposed to cook for 35 minutes. But I must have had too many in the dish or they take longer to cook when they are on a rack, but they didn't get finished until about 5 minutes before the program party was to start. So I rushed them to the kitchen.. they did get to the 180 degrees to be fully cooked.

Here's the BAKERY

The Stage where the manger was to be.

The inn where there was no room...as part of the party, everyone brought blankets and sat on the floor with their families. Some of those who were unable to sit on the floor got to sit in the Traveller's Inn.

At the Butcher Shop, you bought chicken legs...

At the fruit shop, there were figs, dates, oranges, craisins, grapes...

At the Dairy, you would find cheeses, hummus and olives...

Here you could buy Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Our friend Dave came to the party...he didn't dress in the right attire, so he got to go to the jail. ;)

At the winery, you would find your beverages...grape juice and apple juice. and next door you could buy toys. Little shepherd dolls, Jacob's ladders and dreidels. Our boys spent most of their coins on the toys.

After everyone ate, the angels went to sit up by the stage.

Mike and I had to walk through the crowded city to try and find a room for us since I was great with Child...

Finally we were shown a stable to have our baby. (Our camera had a smudge on the lens, so most of our pictures turned out blurry.) Penny Hughes later told me that she couldn't believe how big I was and was trying to do the math...when later she saw that I was Mary..it all made sense.

There were musical performances "Let Him in" from the Forgotten Carols.

"Mary Did You Know" sung by Lindsey. And then Baby Jesus came out.

Then the Angels came to tell the shepherds in the field

And a host of angels appeared singing praises. Cody and Decker couldn't keep their hands off baby Kaylie. Sue Mortensen said that her favorite part was watching Cody come up and hold Kaylie's hand and then punch her in the face with her own little hand...in true brotherly fashion.