Night In Bethlehem

Normally on Christmas Eve we go to my cousin's house for a big family dinner. This year it didn't work out, so we found ourselves with the entire night with our little family. While we love the tradition of going to my cousin's house and we would have loved for it to have worked out this year, it was nice to just be with us and do our own Christmas Eve.

We decided to do a night in Bethlehem. A number of my friends have done this, so we thought it would be fun to give it a shot.

It was a huge success! Audra, Claire, and I dressed up (Ben was a party pooper, while Camille just didn't know what was going on).

I tried to get foods that would be somewhat consistent with what the Jews would have eaten 2,000 years ago. I am certain I failed miserably, but I don't really care. I tried. We ate pitas, hummus, various cheeses, olives, coconut dates (the girls were not fans), couscous, and sparkling Apple Cider for the wine. I bought fish sticks, but forgot to make them. Oops!

We ate on the floor and talked about what life would have been like in Bethlehem. It was a nice night. This is a tradition I want to continue, but- I think it would be better to do earlier in the month. It was nice, but it was a little confusing to have Night In Bethlehem followed with Twas the Night Before Christmas and opening of a Christmas gift. It's not a big deal, just something to modify next year.