Living Nativity...

A friend of mine asked what I thought about her doing a Living Nativity at her barn...I told her I thought it was a great idea and she ran with it.  The next thing I know she has an e-mail going out to a few friends with a list of things she needed to make it happen.
This was a fund raiser, plus a neat thing for people to come visit.  If they could not donate, it was not a problem.  Sharon just wanted everyone to have fun.  And in reality, people coming to visit was a donation even if it was not monetary.
Donations went to the Sturgeon, MO Ministerial Alliance to assist families in need through the Sturgeon Food Pantry & it’s other outreach ministries. 

I donated Chase the llama, a tom turkey and two of his hens, the two new mini's Hershey and Tripplette, and Jester the donkey.  Sharon had big horses, friendly goats, chickens and bunnies that you can pet, plus the barn cats that hung around loving on everyone.  The tack room was heated and had hot chocolate, cider, water and snacks.

The Live Nativity was three days and it was a huge success.  We had many visitors and the smiles and giggles from adults and kids both made it totally worth it!

Barn during the day...






Barn at night...the star was lit up and you could see it for a long ways on your way to the farm.

 


 
Chase shared a stall with the turkeys.  The hen turkeys clucked a lot, and the tom did a lot of gobbling.  The kids would laugh and egg him on, and he would gobble again!  I think by the end of the last day his gobbler lost its gobble...

Characters were volunteers...friends and family...  Day 1 Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

One of the tame bunnies for kids to pet...

Chase and the tom turkey....

The first day Jester shared a stall with Hershey and Tripplette...

When you walk in, the stall directly ahead was the manger area...

The hay is stored above, and Sharon's husband Jon was on his way down from dropping a couple of bales.

The kids loved petting the bunnies and the chickens.

Maddie and her newest baby bunnie.  Maddie doesn't have a critter that you can't love on.

A friend of Sharon's wrote this on a 'scroll' and it was put up outside of the stall where Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were...

Shephards in the parking lot making sure everyone had a place to park. 

The tom stayed puffed up the whole time.  The first day was 1 - 4; second day was 11 - 7, and last day was 1 - 4.  That is a lot of puffy hours!

Cute bunny visiting baby Jesus...

Chase wondering what was going on...

Another one of Maddie's chickens.  This one is named Eagle and she is a doll!

Sharon fell in love with Jester the donk.  I had never taken Jester anywhere since we have had him, and he did wonderful!  He loved getting his face rubbed and when he got to share stall space with the goats the following two days, he was great about it. 

It isn't that Jester didn't have enough hay to eat.  They were stocked thru the whole event...but there is something about sneaking a bite where you shouldn't...it just tastes better.  :-)

 Self portrait with another one of the petting chickens and Sue...

Me and the baby bunny...

Self portrait of me and Maddie getting ready for Day 2...

Trying to get barnyard critters to cooperate when you want them to is a laughing affair!

The stable where baby Jesus was born...

Mary, baby Jesus, and the mini's...

With the doors and window openings closed, it stayed dim enough in the barn to get the feel of what it would have been like, and the sun coming thru the slats gave another neat effect...

Mary showing off the new baby...he was such a quiet boy...

If you look close, the bunny is on his back.  He was like a cat and loved it!

Mary looking up at the star...

Shephard shadow....

In between visitors there is still work to do...

Two shephards coming out of the house after putting in another batch of cookies...

 Ready to greet more visitors...

Sue and Jester....

Me and Sharon with a pretty sunset...

At the end of the day the head piece comes off!  I am not ready to put my chicken down yet.  :-)

We were trying to set the animals up for a picture, but being the thinking creatures they are with minds of their own, they gave us more laughs than cooperation...

Me and Jester...

Sharon and Jester....he was such a sport!

Christmas music was playing in the barn, and the CD player was in the loft.  Sharon was on her way down and it looks like she is falling.  She isn't....

There were a few different shifts of volunteers to play Mary and Joseph...

End of a fun three days!

Jester didn't mind the chicken sitting on his back, even when the chicken was sliding around trying to find just the right spot to relax.

It was a fun three days!  This was the first year Sharon has done this and we had a lot of requests for her to do it again.  I am game!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate and how you celebrated.  I hope it was great!

Karen and Tripp who says he would have loved visiting with kids too!