A Night In Bethlehem 2011

Sometime in September or October I received a special assignment from my bishop to plan our ward/neighborhood Christmas party. I have referred to it as our "Christmas Event"... this was way more than a party. It has been a wonderful experience, and thanks to all of the many people that helped. I have been told repeatedly by those that attended, that "this was the best Christmas party my family has ever been to." That made all of the hard work and planning worth it!

This is what our posters looked like... we added our "ward" and the time of the event to them... and also our programs had this picture on the front... About 2 weeks prior to our event, Dan and his two counselors dressed in the Wise Men costumes we have and went and delivered a "decree" personally to each family living in our ward boundaries. (144 homes) It was probably the coldest night of the year...but they were such good sports and had a great time doing it!

One of the tasks that Dan took on... with all of his free time (ha ha!) was building the stable and the manger. He amazes me with his ability to do things like this...

This was the entrance into our "city"... I wish you could see it better, but there is a table on the left side that I had the programs on along with our "census scroll" I made. We also had boxes on the right side that those who entered, put their "taxes" into. (cans of food) We then had all of the food donated to the local food bank.

The biggest issue with being "in charge" is that there is little time to take a lot of great pictures. This is of the "meat market" as you walked into the city. On the other side of it was our "dairy" and "bakery". It was a great meal... "Cafe Rio" chicken I cooked all day in tortillas, a bag of chips, dessert, and milk or water bottles. Simple but it fit what we were trying to achieve.

A view of the gym... I mean city. We had a path down the middle leading to the front that "Mary and Joseph" walked down during our program. We had everyone bring blankets to sit on with their families.

The big surprise of the evening... Jenny Phillips graciously agreed to come and sing two musical numbers for us. We didn't tell everyone because we knew that the word would spread and we would have way more people show up from the Stake than we would have room/food for. She was AMAZING! If I can get the video on here later of her singing "Breath of Heaven" and "Silent Night", I will. It was breathtaking!

Our awesome narrator Brother Cameron Sorensen... He has the BEST narrator voice ever! He did such a great job.

Our achievement day girls singing "Picture a Stable". They were so cute!

Our primary kids singing "Away in a Manger." I love that it was truly a "ward/neighbor" event. Everyone was involved one way or another.! Now you can see the stable on the stage. Dan did a great job... and I am glad he took some pictures of the program, because I was back stage the entire time!

Our cast... The shepherds, Angels, Wise men, and Mary and Joseph...

It was a beautiful night and we all felt the Spirit so strongly! I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to plan this evening in Bethlehem for our ward and neighbors. Who knows... maybe bishop Dan can talk me into doing it again!