This past Wednesday my ward held the annual Christmas Party. What an amazing experience it was! This year we ventured away from the traditional Christmas Feast and visit from Santa Claus. This year the theme was "Night in Bethlehem". A few weeks ago the youth of our ward hand delivered the official decree. We were instructed to report for the official "Census" and pay our taxes, while wearing clothing from the era (or sheets and robes). When we arrived at the church on Wednesday night we signed the official census and we given a small bag with our coins for which we were to use to purchase our dinner. Our dinner was at various booths throughout the cultural hall. Which was decorated to make us feel like we were in Bethlehem. While we were eating dinner the "Tax Collectors" came through to collect our taxes. Our taxes were canned foods which were donated to the local food bank.
As dinner was wrapping up, Joseph and a very pregnant Mary came through and were trying to find a place to stay for the night. Right before they came through I was recruited to tell Joseph we had no room. I figured I was pegged because my voice was loud enough to carry over the noise in the cultural hall. My assigned location was the 2nd to last booth. As Mary and Joseph walked to the last booth and were told there was no room for them, I watched them walk with head down and at that point got choked up and a little teary eyed. The next time we saw them they were in the stable and Mary was holding her newborn Son. Brother Bean read the story of the birth as a few of our ward members acted. Afterwards we watched a video presentation of pictures from The Savior's life. The whole evening was absolutely great and I was so glad I chose to attend.
2 comments:
What a great idea for a party! I love it!
This is my favorite ward party. We did it when I was a teenager in Arkansas and I helped my friend put it on 3 years ago in our ward. A lot of work, but soooo worth it.
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