Church Christmas Party

We had our church Christmas party last night. It was one of the best I've ever been to. It was by far the most creative. Our invitations were "tax notices". We were told that we had to appear in Bethlehem (our church) on Dec. 1 at 6:00pm for our taxation. We were asked to bring some canned goods for a donation and a blanket to sit on. We also were invited to dress as we would if we lived in Jesus' time. Separately from that, we could sign up to bring misc. food. I signed up for cookies, and made Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels, but more on that later. When we arrived at the church, there was a sign welcoming us to Bethlehem. We were taken on a roundabout route, and were given small bags of "coins", one for each person.

We put our blankets on the floor to eat picnic style. They had the back of the gym set up to look like an ancient village, complete with sign advertising a bakery, fruit market, etc. They even had a well set up with a big punch bowl in the middle so we got our water from the well to drink. We were given food that at least approached food from that time. Fresh fruit, deviled eggs, chicken salad in pita bread. Each item was for sale, and coincidentally enough, we had just enough money to get something of everything. The children's money pouches had an extra dollar coin where they could go to the toy store and buy a dreidel.

After we ate, there was a short program. It was simply reading Luke 2:1-20 while people acted the parts and singing Christmas hymns at appropriate times. It wasn't very long, maybe 10 minutes, but absolutely beautiful in its' simplicity

I would say that at least 75% of the people were there in clothes that somewhat approximated clothing from the era. Something tells me that snowflake bathrobes weren't common attire then, but hey, they tried! The lights were slightly dimmed the whole time, and the spirit there was absolutely amazing.