Live Nativity

One of our holiday highlights was our neighbors' live Nativity performance.  This is the second year they have done it, and also Randy's second year to participate.  The show features a person reading the story and the "actors" doing what the story requires (shepherds are visited by angels and wise men see a star and go find baby Jesus, etc.)  The cast repeats the performance for a half hour and then they switch with another group for the next half hour.  This goes on for 2 hours.  They advertised on the local Christian radio station and they got over three times as much traffic as last year (more than 300 people)!  They gave out candy canes and Bible tracts.  Some people just drove by and others stopped and watched.

By the last half hour, the cast was primed and having fun!  The shepherds were very afraid, the sheep baaed, and the wise men were very excited in offering their gifts to baby Jesus.  One of the funny highlights was a real baby Jesus!  My neighbors had their 10th child this year so she played the role of baby Jesus.  Baby Halley had to get replaced a couple of times when she got fussy.

We had some of our friends come and help. They were wise men and they actually did about three rounds of wise men performances.   They really got into it!  They were high-fiving and making a circuitous trek around each other to get to the stable. Very funny!

Randy was Joseph for an hour.  He just stood there and shivered.  (It was kind of damp since in rained all morning.)  He is such a good sport!  He wants a moving part next year though!

Towards the end my neighbor came over to me and said that next year they want me and the baby to be Mary and baby Jesus!  I laughed and said we would see about that!  It was a fun evening and lots of people enjoyed the show.  It was a good way to remember the meaning of the holiday.