Interlochen and The Journey

The Christmas festivities continued into the evening as we drove to Arlington to tour the lights in Interlochen. I'd mentioned to DeDe we may be going over there, and she warned me about the traffic -- how it could be backed up for hours. I mentioned that to James, so he scoped out a back way in and we arrived in the neighborhood about the time the sun was fully set. The timing was perfect! It was so not crowded when we arrived that James wondered if we were in the right place, but signage indicated we were. About 6:45 traffic became thicker, but we had seen all there was to see, and drove out of the crowd towards Grapevine and The Journey to Bethlehem.


My friend Jenny told me about this Nativity experience on Thursday, and I have to say, it was one of the very best Christmas things we have ever done. This church -- The Church at the Cross -- takes this event very seriously. It was completely free, but despite that, it was clear that hours and hours and loads of money had been put behind this program.

Essentially, it was a version of the arduous journey Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem. There were Roman soldiers on foot and on horseback, Wise Men, a Shepherd Guide, Rabbis, people speaking in Hebrew, Hoardes (or herds?) of live animals, fantastic costumes, specific scripture references, and a very real looking baby Jesus. Tours left every ten minutes, and though there was about an hour's wait to get going on the journey, the wait was on padded seats in the sanctuary with entertainment (hilarious videos, puppet shows, musical numbers, etc.). All told, our "Journey" was about three hours long, but the entire evening was a great deal of fun, and something we plan to attend and take our neighbor children to next year.