Our Newest Christmas Tradition

Our family recently attended "The Bethlehem Walk" at a church in Tulsa. When we first arrived, we checked in then went to the sanctuary where we sang Christmas Carols. We were placed in groups of about 20 people so after our group was made, we went to a different room where we actually got to take place in THE Christmas story. We were given names and "official" papers that we had to keep in our posession in case we were "confronted" by Roman soldiers. We then progressed on our way to "Bethelehem" to be counted in the "census".

Because women were counted as second-class citizens, we had to walk in the back and the men in the front. I think they liked that a little too much ;-) The women and children also made the taxed amount due higher. Along our lit path, we came across shepherds, the wise men, angels singing, live animals, Roman soldiers harassing us, and we even got to walk through a "Jewish village". We finally came across baby Jesus, then it skipped 30 years down the road as we saw the cross where He was hung. But then we saw the tomb was empty and an angel announced that Jesus had risen indeed! ;-)

After the walk-through, we went back into the church where they had a large space that looked liked another Jewish village. They had authentic food to try out, crafts to make, and hot chocolate to warm us up from the cold outdoors.

It was such a neat experience - we will definitely have to make this a yearly tradition!