Walk Through Bethlehem

Peeper has become (oddly enough, given her parents) quite the fan of Baby Jesus. Of course, I told her a bit of the Christmas story last year, when she started noticing the babies everywhere, and this year, I filled out the details a bit.

Probably a bit too much.

If you let her help with the story, she will tell you that the reason Mary was surprised by the angel's messages is "because she didn't got any sperm."

Ahem. Yeah. Sorry.

She will also tell you how Mary was "soooo tired" on the donkey, and how she "puuuuushed Baby Jesus out."

And she'll also tell you that "Christians believe Baby Jesus got born."

This evening, we went to a "Walk Through Bethlehem" at a local church, and it was really very cool. I was impressed at how organized and well-run it was, given the size of the crowd, and I was very impressed at how they handed out "census cards" that each family had to complete and turn in to the Roman soldiers. Including address and email. Hmmmm.

I considered not filling it out, because I don't especially want to be on their mailing list, but on the other hand, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see if they want us. So, we shall see.

While we were waiting for our group's turn to take the tour, we hung out in the "Family Life Center" (evidently, churches don't have "gyms" anymore), eating cookies and listening to a guy sing Christmas carols.

There was also an activity for the kids - making shepherd's headpieces. Peeper made one (okay, she scribbled on it and I put it on her head) and she wore it the whole time.

The tour was actually quite entertaining and even pretty funny at times. We were citizens on our way to Bethlehem for the census, and we met up with a shepherd who offered to lead us there. Our first stop was to visit his brother shepherds, who were tending their flock by night.

You can see where this is going.

Then we went around looking for the baby, incuding stops at the marketplace, the water well, the inns, the shepherd's cousin's house, and finally, the stable, where Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus were hanging out.

Peeper really seemed to enjoy it, and she was very quite and cooperative and attentive through the whole thing.

And damn cute.

Our third Christmas activity for the day was another pass by the super-duper Christmas light display. Which was evidently just a bit too much for her.