Second Annual Stake Nativity Exhibit

For the second year I was asked to be in charge of our stake nativity event. We definitely did some things better this time around. For one thing, the invitations were printed and distributed about a month earlier than last year.

One thing I felt needed improvement was the curtains that were used as barriers to keep people from getting too close to the nativities. Last year it ended up being a last minute addition to create our own barriers instead of renting them, so I didn't have time to get the curtains to fit correctly. They're about a yard wide and they kept separating and looked sloppy, plus they were too long so they dragged on the floor.

This year I worked on curtains many, MANY hours in August and September shortening the curtains and picking out the side seams and then sewing three together so they wouldn't come apart as much.

I had the inspiration to put a Bethlehem city scene on the blue fabric about the walls of the cultural hall, and I was very pleased with how they turned out.

The city scene is cut out of black stabilizer fabric, so it's durable and won't wrinkle or tear as easily paper does.

Another improvement I made this year was to upgrade the signs with the names of the different regions the nativities were from. I bought fancy wooden frames and Kent spray painted them gold. Then I had a sister in the ward cut the names out of vinyl to create the signs. They looked much more professional.

I also had a sister in the ward paint two new signs, like the horizontal "O Little Town of Bethlehem" one below--

the other new sign was the vertical "Joy to the World" in the photo below. Now I have two horizontal signs to put on the long walls in the Cultural Hall and two vertical signs to put on the shorter walls.

I had more volunteers to help and felt like I did much in advance, but still spent 42 hours at the church from Wednesday night to Saturday night. I was so exhausted when it was all over I didn't think I'd have the stamina to do it again another year.

 This is a close up of an Italian Fontanini nativity village. It was a new addition this year and the nativity with the most figures.

I learned from my mistakes last year and did a better job of alotting space for the nativities, like giving a larger area for the North American nativities. Another new addition was covering the walls with long voile curtain scarves, which were much easier to put up and covered the walls better than the gossamer fabric I used last year.

Some views of the tables in the center of the cultural hall.

The table with white and clear nativities was crammed full, and I'm considering doing a classroom just with the white and glass nativities next year.

 We hung the lights and stars the same as we did last year since I had liked the effect we had.

This year I decided to bring my small Christmas tree covered with wooden German nativity ornaments and put it into the center of one of the tables dedicated to German nativities. (Don't I look tired and frazzled in this picture??)

I had great helpers who coordinated the nativities, food room, children's room.

I was able to salvage most the paper silhouettes from 2017 and put them on the walls in the hallways again this year.

 I think they were a nice addition to the overall effect.

 I have the silhouettes carefully stored so that we can use them again in 2019. The paper is pretty fragile, but it took hours to trace them and cut them out so I want to use them as much as possible.

After the exhibit was over I was interviewed by a member of the stake who does public affairs, and he was able to get an article published on the online version of the local newspaper. Hopefully the link below will go to the article, where I was quoted:
https://www.fredericksburg.com/features/religion/local-church-presents-nativity-scenes-from-around-the-world/article_2e83f412-8136-5760-b9b5-ee07897c311f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR3twdQukaU4PB7XwkA5cMwYp7bqRSd-5XyS1k2RKMElmcTEHUvtJKQimHU

Pres. HW Bush Lies in State at the Capitol

On Monday, December 3rd, Kent and I had the rare opportunity to go to the Capitol building in Washington, DC, to pay our respects to Pres. HW Bush, who was lying in State, after passing away on November 30th. The last time there was a former US President lying in state was twelve years ago, so it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I did some research and found out that the viewing was open 24 hours a day, so Kent and I headed to DC at around 9:30pm and arrived about an hour later. We found a place to park on a side street and headed towards the Capitol building.

I was glad to see that even at 10:30pm the line was pretty long to get in. We waited about an hour, but the weather wasn't too cold and it wasn't raining or snowing.

It was great to see young people waiting in line, as well as different ethnicities--it wasn't just all old white people like us. After all, he was president 26 years ago. Some people had even brought their young children, in spite of it being late at night. Below is what the line looked like once we got inside the Capitol building.

 The coffin was placed in the rotunda of the Capitol, and once we got into that room there were no photographs allowed. We were allowed to stay as long as we liked, but we only stayed about five to seven minutes. Below is the program that they handed to us as we entered the rotunda.

We had a bit of trouble finding our car after we left the Capitol. When we parked we were in a hurry and didn't take the time to notice what street we were on, but we eventually found the car and were on our way back to Stafford shortly after midnight.
December is a very busy time for me, but I'm glad we made the sacrifice to go pay our respects to a very decent and honorable public servant.

Longwood Gardens and Philadelphia at Christmas Time!

On November 29th, before the busy-ness of December overtook us, Kent and I drove to Pennsylvania for an overnight trip.  Our first stop was Longwood Gardens to see the Christmas lights.

 They put on a very nice display.

 We especially liked the colored fountains that "danced" to Christmas music every 30 minutes.

 Kent likes to get ideas for the Christmas lights he puts up at our house from these kinds of displays.

 These blue lights were reflected in the pond in the gardens.

 Inside the conservatory there were some decorated Christmas trees.

 There was a "books" theme to the decorations this year in the rooms of the Conservatory this year.

 These books were on top of the grand piano.

The paths in the conservatory were lined with poinsettias.

These trees were suspended from the ceiling of the conservatory.

Usually the lights are around the branches of the trees, so it was unusual to see a section where just the trunks had been wrapped in lights.

We were lucky to be there on a Thursday evening when it wasn't very crowded.

One of the last things we discovered was a train set decorated with Christmas lights.

 This was the view of Philadelphia we had from our hotel room the next morning.

The hotel was just a few blocks from the Temple, which was very convenient. This was the view from our window.

  After we went to the temple we took some pictures by the nativity they have on the temple grounds.

Then we walked downtown to see some of the Christmas sights of Philadelphia. Below is a street sign I saw as we were walking.

I'd read on the internet that Philadelphia had a "Christmas Village" set up in a town square during the end of November and December.

I have to say it's the closest thing I've seen to a European Christmas Market that I've seen in the United States!

 There was even a Kathe Wohlfahrt shop! I bought an over-priced wooden nativity ornament there.

Next we went to the Philadelphia Macy's, which has the world's largest playing pipe organ. 

 Every hour they had a twenty-minute light show set to Christmas carols, which we watched.

 The architecture of the building itself was also awesome.

 Also in Macy's they had a Dickens' Christmas Carol village set up to walk through.

         
    

It was pretty dated and cheesy looking, as you can see from the scenes below. 

It was on the list of Christmas things to do in Philly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! 

 Our visit to Philadelphia was a nice way to kick off the Christmas season.