A few years ago we went to a "live nativity" at a church in town, and afterwards our entire family was all, "Okay. So that was...kind of lame." And so i was a little bit nervous when i had this "Evening at Bethlehem" on the schedule this year. But it was at a different church, and i was feeling optimistic.
The first 5 minutes were a little video with still pictures and a voice over reading the King James Version of the Christmas story, and Katrina, who was sitting next to me, started giving me a look that clearly said, "Um. This is kind of boring, Mom." But as soon as the video was finished, it all got better. This guy who clearly loved his role as a shepherd came out dragging an adorable sheep, and then we all got to walk through "Bethlehem," where a money lender gave us "shekles" and then later a tax collector (who took all of the shekles we had). There were people making pottery and people "selling" jewelry and flowers and bread and cloth. The "streets" were totally crowded with people, which my kids later said they really liked because it made it seem more realistic. The actors were all adorable and committed to their roles, and it was kind of awesome.
So that's definitely something that we'd all be happy to do again. Yay!
Yesterday's Advent activity was Christmas Mad Libs. This is our fourth year, i think, and since we do it in the same book every year, the kids think it's hilarious to read back over previous years' stories as well. We always do three pages, and we counted ahead to see how many years remained in the book - three, which i thought was pretty good, but the kids all cried, "Nooooo!" It's weird that this is a tradition that they all love.
Today we made cards for teachers and leaders. Houston just ignored the actual card and made snowflakes, which he then wrote notes on. Katrina made beautiful Christmas trees with lots of glitter. Zane wrote a note in pen and glued a small snowflake to the inside. So they all did pretty much what i could have predicted. Except Houston. I can never predict what he's going to do with crafts.
Tonight Juanito and i went with Beth, Stephanie, and another friend to see the final season premier of Downton Abbey. The movie theater gives away tickets to see it about a month before it comes out on TV, and it's always so much fun to watch with a huge crowd of people. Everyone sighs and giggles and claps and makes angry noises, and it's this feeling of solidarity. Beth and i even managed to get interviewed by a TV station before the movie, and ... i kind of hope that that doesn't actually make it onto TV ever. I'm such a dork.
Afterwards we went for frozen yogurt and sat on the floor in the hallway (because the place was completely packed) and talked and giggled and just generally had fun. Friends are awesome.
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