A Walk Through Bethlehem

On Sunday night we headed down to the Sunrise Community Church for this Night in Bethlehem we had heard about. It was cold, and the rain kept threatening to dump on us, but the experience was well worth it. The whole night was centered around replicating the birth of Jesus. Everyone was dressed for the time period, and the atmosphere was incredibly authentic.

Before we entered Bethlehem, we had to sign the census for accountability purposes.


The kids got a chance to help these women grind grain for their bread. Back in the day, women would spend 3 hours each day baking enough bread to feed a family of 6 for 1 day. They didn't have Nutrimills and bread machines.




We found the 3 wisemen with their gold, frankincense and myrrh, and they gave each of the kids a gold nugget (spray-painted pebble) to bring to the baby Jesus. These guys' costumes were amazing.


They even had live farm animals walking around, which made Kaitlyn ecstatic. She could've spent the whole night with them and been happy as a goose.


These baby lambs were so precious.


We looked up and saw the angels appearing to the shepherds in the field, singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and directing the shepherds to Bethlehem. They were beautiful.


After much searching, we found the baby Jesus.


Of course the kids had to give him their gold nuggets.


This was a free event and is held annually at the Sunrise Community church for one weekend only. I think we'll be making it one of our new Christmas traditions, and I would highly recommend it.