L2K2: O Little Town of Bethlehem

Mrs. Villa (Dason's teacher and Katrina's teacher last year) invited us to an event at her church on Friday night. They converted their church auditorium into the town of Bethlehem. It was amazing! I took Katrina, Dason and Caden while Leo stayed home with Leyna and Kylin (it was our babysitting night.) All of the people were dressed like you would picture 2000 years ago. When we first arrived the soldier told us to register for the census (we filled out a paper with our info on it and got a number). As we walked in the door there was a very realistic looking beggar saying "Alms for the poor" and reaching out to the kids and making them a little nervous. Then we went into a Jewish woman's home and we were taught some of her customs and ate some of her bread. Then we walked into the city. It really looked like a city. They had E-Z ups all over the place but they were covered with fabric and bamboo and mats so that they looked like little shops all over with city streets weaving around. Some of the booths included: fabric dying (the kids learned how they dyed fabric and go to dye a little bag the color of their choice), bread making and baking, jewelry making, sandal making, basket weaving, mosaic tile making, harp making, rope making, draedle (sp?) making, etc. We were all told about the exciting news about the birth of Christ and rushed to see him. It was really a neat experience for me and the kids. It was neat to have them get a picture of what Christmas is really about instead of Santa and toys and all of that fun commercialized stuff.