Mother Mary, Father Joseph

Sunday night I took the girls out to see a live nativity at Ephesus Baptist Church in Raleigh. On Friday I saw the ad in the paper and considered it. But it ran from 7-9 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

So Sunday night after bath, I told everyone to get in their pajamas and we were going to see something special. Eric helped us to the car, and we were off just after 7. It was already packed. It was cold out, so I had the heat cranked in the car.

A nice gentleman with the church explained the setup to me and how everything would be on the passenger side, so I unbuckled Lily so she could sit in the front seat next to me.

The first stop was the Angel telling Mary she was going to be with child. The second stop was Mary and Joseph not finding room at the inn. The girls had a lot of questions about these two.

The third stop was the Angel talking to the shepherds. The girls got excited here because there was a shepherd's crook involved. Next were the three wise men.

Then the finale - Mother Mary, Father Joseph, more shepherds, and the wise men. Madeleine was calm, cool, and collected, but Lily was so excited. She could have sat there forever watching. I pulled up to buckle her back into her seat, and she freaked out. She wanted to run and hug them and was mad that I wouldn't let her.

I thought driving around to look at Christmas lights would calm her down, but I was wrong. We arrived home 30 minutes later, and she was still sobbing. But she was probably just overtired too, as she fell asleep almost immediately.

But today she was talking about it and how great it was, so I'm totally glad we went. I just need a huggable nativity instead of a drive-thru.