Streets of Bethlehem
Ever year a church right down the street from us puts on a free Christmas event called “Streets of Bethlehem”. Since Jeff and I are not religious at all, this never interested us, but since we have a kid now, we thought it would be something fun to experience for the holiday. Can’t go wrong if it is free, right?
We dressed Vincent up nice and warm (two pairs of pants!) and we tried to find a beanie for his head, but only had super tiny ones from infant days, or adult ones from mom and dad… add it to the Christmas gift list!
We walked over to the church and stood in line for a few minutes. Vinny was in the backpack since strollers are not allowed (hay on the ground). They had people in period garb, riding on horses and asking for donations.
Once it was our turn, we walked though the gate and they started the “play” which was a story of Jesus. Virgin Mary, the angel, Joseph, blah blah blah,,.. haha.
Then on the next “station” which was a bunch of street vendors, some with incense, some with farm animals, yarn makers, blacksmiths, etc.
We had to wait again for the next station to clear up, and Vinny was getting claustrophobic with all the people, so we just decided to shuttle on through and leave.
We skipped what i can only assume was the really boring part, because they last play/stage area was baby jesus!
Which was a good idea, because the last station before you leave is the goats you can feed. So we had the goats all to ourselves.
Vinny was tired! I think he would have liked to get out of the backpack and play with them but Jeff was afraid he wouldn’t get back in after we took him out (which has happened in the past, even though he loves the back pack, he gets tired of it)
I am glad we finally got to check out this Salinas tradition, but not sure we will go next year. Maybe when Vincent is old enough to be more interested in everything… so in a few years.