From Belfast to the Bethlehem Experience

Today we took our 7 year old to Kings Hall in Belfast to the Bethlehem Experience.

We had heard great reports about it, and weren’t disappointed. It gave us a glimpse of life in Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth. It was a totally free event, organised by Christchurch, Belfast

“Walk the streets, meet the villagers, hear the sounds, and savour the smells of those remarkable times.”

We had to sign the census, pay our taxes to the Romans, and met some of the local characters including the inn keeper, a shepherd and King Herod.

As we were leaving we met King Herod who asked us if we knew anything about a baby who was to be a king. My son vehemently shook his head, and after King Herod moved away my son said “Phew …. that was awkward!”

To warm us up in the freezing temperatures we were served hot apple juice, along with some pitta bread, hummus, dried apricots, raisins and ….popcorn!

There was also a kids craft activity with the inevitable glitter glue.

The message on the heart “Jesus is the true heart of Christmas”

Have you ever been to a Bethlehem Experience?

In other, non-Christmas news, we surived the teen Beach Party, despite the icy roads. I’ll do a separate post about it after Christmas but it was a great success, and the highlight was probably the photo-booth we created for them with beach-themed props.

Tomorrow we have two more carol services, so I imagine I might be blogging about them, come back and see!

Thanks