The reason for the season

We have enjoyed lots of Christmas activities so far: tree lighting's, Santa visit, neighborhood party, looking at lights, but tonight we did something that really was about what Christmas is truly about. We were at a birthday party today, and someone told me about a local church was putting on a walk through Bethlehem this weekend. I called Nelson and told him to get the baby ready, and the girls and I picked them up and we were off!

It was so nice. We drove up and a long line awaited. We had to bring canned goods for our "taxes"-our entry fee. Then, we went in and Joshua saw a donkey and kept calling for the donkey. It was a quiet walk through and my boisterous two year old could be heard throughout the church yard saying, "Donkey, Donkey!!" :) Well, the kids got coins for turning in their "taxes", and then went through the market place and got frankincense and myrrh, beads, and then once we walked through the town and passed the full inn we got to baby Jesus (a real baby!) Mary and Joseph and animals were in the stable too. The children were then asked to place their gifts in the basket by Jesus and the kids all put the trinkets in there so excitedly. No one asked to keep the beads, or coin, they handed it off, knowing that even though this was a pretend baby Jesus that he was a symbol of someone so wonderful. It was so wonderful to experience this with my family. It's definitely going to be something we do every year! Jesus is the reason for the season...not Santa, and this really brought that home for my little ones. As we walked out they had an area to write down prayer requests. The girls were so excited about this. I helped them write out their requests, and they both first put Aunt Anna's family and the people who love and miss her.

The walk was super emotional to me because I kept thinking how Anna was now with all these people (Jesus, Mary, Joseph). When, everything happened in April the wind would sometimes come out of no where, and in FL in the spring that's unusual. I felt like it was embracing me and tonight the wind did the same thing and I hoped it was Anna with me. I love her and miss her so much, and am trying to imagine her singing Happy Birthday to the Lord face-to-face in a few weeks. Anna not being here is so unbearable, so having a vision of her singing joyfully on Jesus' birthday helps.

I hope everyone embraces the true meaning of Christmas time! My friend in North Carolina is a part of a living Christmas tree, which they did here when I was younger, but I can't find one anywhere now. My kids absolutely loved the walk through Bethlehem, and it even ended with hot chocolate and cookies! I hope this continues for years to come!