Christmas Eve in Bethlehem

When I was a child, Christmas was almost always a disappointment. Perhaps it came from that time I asked for a singing mermaid and Santa brought me a mermaid that didn't sing (one of the harsh realities of Santa having five kids and working on his PhD), which clearly traumatized me for life. There is always so much build-up, so much hype about Christmas, and then when Christmas comes, you open presents early in the morning and then it's like, "Now what? What do we do with all that built-up expectation for something awesome?" The two months of waiting and hoping and wishing leave me exhausted, and by 10 am I'm usually ready for Christmas to be over (so we can get January and February over with and get into spring).

For me, Christmas Eve is the real holiday. Big dinner, reading (or acting out) the nativity story, and the expectation for something awesome can still be built up for Christmas. At least in my family traditions, Christmas Eve was the day to focus on the birth of the Savior and His life and sacrifice, which Christmas was more focused on the spirit of giving (ie presents). 

This Christmas Eve offered me a unique chance to continue this tradition of a big dinner and a focus on the birth of the Savior while living a 15 minute walk away from the place tradition holds Jesus was born. And what better way than to celebrate with expats and Palestinians?

I invited the members of my LDS branch over to my spacious house for dinner, and I am proud to say that we fit more than 30 people in to my apartment! It was a choice opportunity for so many of our branch members to be together, as we had members from Ramallah and Bethlehem (who can't go in to Jerusalem to church) as well as several members from Jerusalem. It was a happy reunion as I tried to keep children from spitting off my balcony and throwing chairs at each other while the adults tried to communicate in their limited Arabic or English.

Yep, I'm so ghetto that I had people eating in my guest bedroom. And yes, I keep my bike in there.

Thankfully, we only had one major spill and a couple of meltdowns, we didn't run out of food (which, by the way, I was not in charge of--I'm not that ambitious!), and it almost felt like a big family gathered around my (minuscule) Christmas tree!

After the party went home, I went to a Lutheran/Catholic Christmas Eve service in Shepherd's Field. 

It was a beautiful service (more to come about it) and such an incredible experience to be sitting in Shepherds Field with members of several different denominations, singing and reading scriptures about the birth of the Savior. (And the Israeli settlement that is usually an affront to the eyes on the mostly-empty fields was just out of view, making the scene a bit more realistic!)

After the service, they shared lamb and pita (and the warmth of their fire) with everyone. So this Christmas Eve in Shepherds Field, instead of watching our flocks, we ate them.

Looking out over Beit Sahour and Bethlehem

Merry Christmas from the Koreans

And naturally, I had to throw in a picture of the Beit Sahour Christmas tree!

After a quick visit to Nativity Square (mostly to say that I had gone, like the thousands of people who come from all over the world to be there Christmas Eve) I walked home. And as it started to rain I saw, could it be, Santa! riding in a car and waving at everyone. Sahar told me that you can hire him out to come to your house and deliver presents to the children. Awesome.