This past Saturday, Jim and I took the boys to a local Lutheran church that was putting on a sort of walk through play. The inside of the church was set up to resemble Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. When we entered, the first room was sort of a welcome area where they had hot cider and cookies. Then you stood in line and waited your turn to walk through the market. To enter you had to go through the gates that were guarded by a Roman soldier. This young man played his part very well. He was unfriendly and harsh, angrily telling us, “Keep up with your group. Come on, move along.” He was very authentic and got a bit of a crinkled eye brow look from Jacob.

We proceeded to walk through the market and each merchant we passed told us what they saw that night, some believing the star meant the birth of the Messiah, others telling us of their skepticism. The tour ended in the sanctuary where the Holy Family sat near the manger (feeding the squirming baby Jesus a bottle).

Jim and I really enjoyed it. The entire tour took about 25 minutes and everyone was very gracious and did their best to keep the boys interested. Christopher seemed to really enjoy it and appeared to be listening as we walked through. At one point, while one of the merchants was telling his tale, Jacob looked up at me and said, loudly, “Why is this taking so long?” Again, the merchant was very gracious and got to his point quickly.

In the end, though, even Jacob enjoyed the singing and watching the baby Jesus in the Sanctuary.

On the way home, I asked Christopher what his favorite part was. He thought for a minute and said, “I really liked the soldiers! I like their swords!” Jim and I looked at each other and sort of laughed and Jim asked him, “Wasn’t there anything else you liked about seeing Bethlehem and the story you heard?” Christopher replied, “I liked the cookies.” After a moment, he finally said, “Oh, I liked the baby Jesus in the end, too.”