Camels!

My friend Cathy talked me into going to Westgate Chapel's "Bethlehem Experience".  I'm glad she did.  

     We heard there were camels and we heard right - not just one, but four.  There was also a burro, four or five sheep, and two goats.  All the animals were amazingly clean and quiet (except for one bleat early on from a sheep on a leash); not your average camels, burro, sheep and goats.

     "Chapel" is somewhat misleading.  The place was cavernous.  We were led to various places in the church by friendly parishioners.  The major part of the event was nine live dioramas (The Journey of the Magi is above). The only human movement I saw was the baby Jesus.  He obviously couldn't be expected to sit still, but I don't know how the other people did it for three hours each of three nights. Maybe they traded places, but I didn't see it.

About half way through, there was a reproduction of the ancient town, with plenty of opportunity to interact with the various businesses.  

At the end there was cookies and hot chocolate and yet another video encouraging people to come to services.  The event was free and not a donation receptacle in sight.