Were There Cars in Bethlehem?

My church held its annual Living Nativity this past Sunday. It was 50 below. All I know is that I'm thankful, for once, I wasn't pregnant this year and so didn't have to play Mary. As a spectator, I was able to wimp out in the middle of the second performance and run inside for hot chocolate. ;) I'm not sure why it is, but they seem to like casting a pregnant woman as Mary for this reenactment. With big puffy winter coats on under our costumes, we pretty much all look pregnant anyway. So, poor Mary has to navigate the icy patches and hope that she doesn't really go into labor while sitting among the farm animals in the freezing cold.

The first performance ended up being a kind of practice run. Whatever could have gone wrong, went wrong. The CD got stuck about five minutes into the performance. Someone stopped it and started it over from the beginning. There went an extra five minutes in the cold. After the beginning was replayed again, the CD got stuck at the same place. It was determined that the CD player was frozen, so someone pulled their car up to where the Living Nativity was held, opened all their doors, and popped the CD into their player. OK, back to the beginning again.

Having a car drive up in the middle of "Bethlehem" somehow changed the mood a bit, but hey - the show must go on and these guys get kudos for resourcefulness in my book! So, back in the stable, the geese are honking away. (At least a chicken didn't fly out and step on baby Jesus' head this year. You try keeping a straight face when that happens.) The guiding star moved across the lawn before the wise men came out so when the wise men appeared, they looked up at the sky and pointed at umm, well, nothing.

Still, I love to watch The Living Nativity. It's a moving reminder of what it's all about.















After the show, we drove around a little bit, looking at Christmas lights.







And this is the reason I don't have my presents wrapped yet. I seem to have run out of tape.