Is it just me....

or is December completely CRAZY!! I feel like I haven't had time to do anything. My house is a disaster. Seriously. And it isn't over yet. 10 more days until Christmas. I think I'm almost ready. The kids get out of school for Christmas break on Friday and I want to be all ready by then so we can enjoy the break together and focus on what Christmas is really about.

Anyway, last weekend a local Seventh Day Adventist church by us held it's annual "Journey to Bethlehem" event. This is the first year we have gone and I'm so glad we did. It was a really neat experience. It is set up outside (it was freezing last weekend, the kids all wore their snow gear!).

Elliot waiting to go out

Elliot's bff Gabe

Our group met with a "cousin" who was leading us to Bethlehem to pay our taxes. People were dressed the part and acted the part. The Roman soldiers were really mean and scary (they all had huge swords, yikes!). Our cousin had to bribe them in order for us to get in to the city.

We went to a few inns to try and find a place to stay. No one had room for us. We walked through Bethlehem as the residents tried to sell us their wares. Finally we got the the area where we had to pay our taxes and got to listen to their big speech about how wonderful Caesar Augustus is and how lucky we are to be able to pay taxes to the Roman empire (gag ;) ).

As we were headed out of the city we passed the angels singing, giving us hope. Then we came to the manger where the baby Jesus had just been born. It was very authentic, complete with goats, donkeys, and a camel.

Her name is Camille :)

Maggie petting the camel

Merry Christmas! Hoping your December isn't too crazy!