Arlington Stake Nativity Festival

This last December our Stake (a group of LDS congregations) organized and put on our

First Annual Nativity Festival.

We had a committee of about 20 people working on the plans throughout the year, everything from the advertising and the electrical, to the set-up and the structures. I (Sheri) was invited onto the committee late in the game, after some of the others had to drop out for one reason or another.

I was part of the decorating committee, we were in charge of everything in the entryways, hallways, cultural hall, and cookie room. We divided up the duties and I worked with 2 other ladies on the cultural hall.

Wow- what an overwhelming and awesome task! We ended up with 46 tables, 60 cinderblocks, 40 bricks (THANK YOU Dad and Joel for all the heavy lifting!), 30 christmas trees, 160 huge poinsettias, 48 small poinsettias, over 200 battery operated tea lights, votives, and pillar candles, and over 500 nativities on display. We all put in 10 hour days, Monday through Wednesday and half a day on Thursday, along with countless other drop-in helpers, getting ready to open the doors to the public starting at 6pm on Thursday. It ran until 7pm on Sunday and them we spent 13 hours on Monday breaking it all down.

One of the Entry Foyers were people were greeted and offered a map to the building.

The Cultural Hall full of beautiful nativities, trees, and poinsettias.

Our members displayed nativities they had collected from all over the world.

It was more subtly lit than my pictures show- my camera enhanced every bit of light it could find.

The whole room had such a beautiful feeling about it.

We had the curtains open to the chapel and someone playing the piano or an instrument during all the visiting hours to add to the feeling of celebrating the birth of Christ.

At one end of the Cultural Hall we also had a live (still) nativity display. Families could sign up to stand in for 30 minutes at a time. With the beautiful backdrop that one of our local families painted and the bright star, this became a real focal point.

Down the hall we had a room dedicated to "The Life of Christ"

They did an amazing job!

Another popular spot was our "Cookie Room"

I failed to get any pictures of it, but we also had a "Children's Room" full of nativities the children were allowed to touch and play with as well as a craft the children could do. In the corner of that room kids and whole families could dress up in costume and have a family picture taken in a stable. My kids wanted to bee-line it to that room every time.

This turned out to be one overwhelming and exhausting week, but more rewarding than I could have imagined. What a privilege to be a part of it. I couldn't think of a better way to start the Christmas season!

We've already had our first meeting talking about next year! Hope you can all come see it!!