It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Today was a busy and festive Saturday which marked the begining of the Night of Lights as well as our ward Christmas party.

Our morning was spent putting up the Christmas lights outside, and we had beautiful weather for it. Greg had been in Utah during the week, and got home late Friday evening so I let him sleep in a bit. But once we got to work, everything went pretty fast in spite of the fact that we were missing Joe's help. We bought some new extension cords for the Christmas lights at Costco a while back that made the electrical connections easier this year. I had originally thought we would scale back the amount of lights we put out, but in the end we ended up doing about the same as usual because we have mastered a very nice looking system. And when we were done the yard looked really good.

After we were finished with the lights, we went to the ward Christmas Party. This year we experienced a Night in Bethlehem. The activities committee had done a wonderful job creating a village in the cultural hall--with shops that offered simple foods of fruit, olives, cheese, eggs, meat and bread. My favorite was the meat market, which staffed by my three favorite butchers--the Bishopric. Greg, Don and Chuck all looked great in their biblica attire (although I thought the Bishop looked a lot like Lehi. Everyone laid blankets out on the floor and enjoyed good company while they ate.

Then we watched as Joseph and Mary went throughout Bethlehem, looking for a place where Mary could have her baby. All the inns were full, but they were allowed to use a stable and there Mary brought forth her first born son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. It was a beautiful presentation that included some wonderful musical numbers, and really helped you feel the spirit of Christmas.

What a great way reminder of the true meaning of Christmas! I hope it stays with us all season!