Nativity and Nature

Merry Christmas! I'm working on a post about the special happenings on Christmas - until then, a few fun pics of my holiday adventures.

The weather in Colorado was awesome this year, and made it possible to actually hold the LIVE Outdoor Nativity! I've never actually been to one, so seeing the real animals on the courtyard at church was a hoot!

Can you guess what this is? The sun may have been shining, but it was still cold enough to wear gloves. I played the piano for the Nativity service, and cut-off the finger tips to an old pair of gloves. These are the tips!

One of the many live animals at BLC.
This was the best shot I could get...
(Perhaps not the best photo to pair with the last one...)

RTG and Mary and Joseph.
Yes, that's a small pony.
The donkey called in sick. Really!

It was great to see so many people at the outdoor service!
Not baaaaa-d for 1:30 pm on Christmas Eve!

The little ones.

Check out our Camel, Camilla, and her sisters. Okay, so we had one non-authentic animal. But seriously, have you seen real camels!? They are scary! And they spit! This one was much more docile.

Too sweet!

My Christmas Eve once again concluded with little Miss Charlotte, who is now 2! This little one, seen here with her own Nativity set at home, helped me blow out all the Sanctuary candles at the conclusion of our 11pm service.

She was also old enough to sit with me at the manger - on her own, she wished Jesus a Happy Birthday.

JOY. Six back-to-back church services. JOY.
More about this in tomorrow's post...

Ah, my mother knows me well.
Rest assured, they came in handy.

Christmas Day found me traveling to Estes Park for a visit to the new Trunnell home! The mountains were simply majestic!

Do you see what I see?

Some quiet time around Lake Estes.

Merry Christmas!