The Christmas Chain Took Us To Bethlehem

It’s hard to focus on school this month.

This Christmas season feels shorter since Thanksgiving landed later in November.

The kids and I just want to play and craft and bake and we don’t want to add or memorize or diagram sentences.

(And this gloomy cold rain is not helping our (I mean, mine) attitudes either.)

But we keep trying to persevere anyway.

Only a few days late, we hung up our traditional Christmas chain.

And so far we’ve watched a Christmas movie with snacks, decorated our tree (finally!) and this weekend we whipped up those infamous monster cookies and took in a new local event to our family – A Journey to Bethlehem.

At the entrance of the event we were all handed coins to pay our taxes and were ushered into Bethlehem by Roman soldiers.

Bergen signed our family in for the census and we paid our dues to Caesar.

I had been a little skeptical when I first heard about the event, but truly – I was blown away.

This event was completely free and truly well-crafted.

We visited tents for spices and the fishmonger, a perfumery and a carpenter.  There was the temple and the call of the shofar drew us over to listen to the rabbi say the shema.

(Which delighted London especially as she recognized the words.)

At each tent the kids received a bead to complete a bracelet when they were home.

We visited the shepherds in the field, tried bread drizzled in honey, warmed ourselves by fires at the blacksmith’s, petted sheep and watched Romans soldiers carry off a boy found guilty of stealing.

On our trek following the star to locate the manger we were routed through the church where hot chocolate and sugar cookies were waiting.

I was so impressed with the staff coordinating and managing the event.

At the end of their evening, in a crowd of guests, my little Fox accepted his full cop of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream.

And then he dropped it.

On the carpet in the foyer.

A full cup of brown liquid soaking right into the carpet.

The lady serving the cocoa was so incredibly gracious.

And it wasn’t as if she had to muster up a kind face or a polite response.

You could see it on her face.

A smile.  A “That’s no problem.  Would he like another cup?”

Not a grimace or a rush to clean up the mess and make a scene.

Just a “It’s not a big deal at all.  We’ll clean the carpet tomorrow.  So glad you could join us this evening.”

And I think that response probably reflects that church’s heart towards children even more than their elaborate Bethlehem scene outside in the parking lot.

So maybe it was that kindness that was prepping my heart (and the tender feelings I maintain these days as I watch my children grow at lightning speed) but when we passed through the church to the manger scene quietly set up around the corner, I found myself genuinely moved.

It was an uncomplicated scene of simple beauty and I found it rather touching.

We wrapped around the church and saw the wise men with their camel as we left.

The kids, who were pretty doubtful about our evening’s plans when I has previously pitched them, were enthusiastic in the car.

“Mom,” Mosely said, “That was awesome.  I’ll trust you next time when you say something will be fun.  Can we do this next year?”