Christmas
in Different Times and Places
By
Clark L. and Kathy H. Kidd
There
comes a time when the tired ham dinner and the halfheartedly-sung
Christmas carols are no longer sufficient for a ward
Christmas party. More to the point, is it possible
to not have an appearance by Santa Claus and still
have a celebration the children will enjoy? If your
ward has wandered down the Santa Claus path in the
past, is it possible to get back to a more Christ-centered
celebration without causing a revolt?
Pondering
these questions while looking back on a succession
of identical — and identically boring — ward Christmas
celebrations, we decided we couldn’t bear another
one and began looking for alternatives.
We
were delighted with what we found. Apparently there
are many wards that have abandoned the standard Christmas
party in favor of something more substantial. We
decided to try the most popular of these, and we scuttled
the ham and Santa in favor of a Christmas dinner that
was almost no dinner at all. Our ward presented “A
Night in Bethlehem,” complete with Middle Eastern
food that was eaten by costumed ward members who sat
on blankets on the floor.
If
your ward is desperate for an alternative to the sit-down
ham dinner, go
here to see how to do “A Night in Bethlehem.”
It’s easier to put on than a standard dinner, it’s
far less expensive to host than a standard dinner,
and — most important — it’s infinitely more meaningful
than the traditional dinner-Santa combo.
We
were amazed at how well our ward came together to
host the event. We gave members the option of dressing
in costume or wearing street clothes and were stunned
to see how many people opted for the costumes. Most
of us opted for bathrobes, but some of the costumes
were authentic. The unusual attire added to the excitement
of the evening.
A costumed vendor “sells” dried fruits and olives,
which were part of the dinner.
There
was something inspiring about eating the same foods
at our ward Christmas program that the Savior would
have eaten. Ward members who had never tasted pita
and hummus were pleasantly surprised that the foreign
food was not only edible, but even good enough that
they went back for seconds. We may be accustomed
to more traditional dinners, but it’s hard to identify
with the Savior and his life when you’re sitting at
the table using a knife and fork to cut the fat off
a piece of ham.
Fatima’s Pitas was a popular dinner destination.
Even
our water was “drawn” from the local well. Every
effort was made to recreate Bethlehem — insofar as
it is possible to recreate Bethlehem under the shadow
of basketball hoops.
The keepers of the well made sure not to allow animals
to pollute the water.
The
evening ended as every Christmas party should end
— not with Santa, but with a reenactment of the Christmas
story. Even the diehards in our ward who had insisted
on having Santa at every year’s Christmas party freely
admitted at the evening’s end that nobody missed him
once he was gone. Without exception, the people who
attended the ward Christmas party said it was the
best one our ward had ever seen.
In
fact, we learned there is only one drawback to presenting
“A Night in Bethlehem” as a ward Christmas party.
Once you’ve done something that good, how do you go
back to Santa and ham? The minute the party was over,
we started thinking about what in the world to do
this year.
An
idea didn’t take long to come.
A
New Christmas Story
Latter-day
Saints are the only people we know who have two completely
different accounts of the Christmas story. “A Night
in Bethlehem” only covers one of them. Why not, we
reasoned, host “A Night in Zarahemla”?
The
Bethlehem experience featured “vendors” selling foods
that were eaten in that place in that time. The Zarahemla
night could also feature vendors — but these would
distribute foods that are indigenous to the Book of
Mormon lands of Central America. The possibilities
are endless. Pineapple and bananas abound, instead
of figs and olives and dates. Instead of pita, we
would serve tortillas; instead of hummus, beans.
The
decorations would be Mayan in nature, and instead
of sparse vegetation the décor could reflect the lush
greenery of the rainforest. Needless to say, the
Christmas story in Bethlehem took place under cover
of night, but the Zarahemla Christmas story took place
in a situation where night was as bright as day.
This is a party that needs to be held with the lights
on.
Costumes
might be a little more difficult, because bathrobes
do not a Nephite costume make. But war paint and
feathers might have the same effect. We were willing
to take the plunge.
The
only drawback was the program. We didn’t have a program
for “Christmas in Zarahemla,” but that didn’t stop
us from looking for one. We have long been firmly
convinced that Google can uncover anything, so we
Googled the phrase. Voila! It turns out The Friend
published a program many years ago on precisely this
subject, and it is available
on the web for anyone to see.
But
that wasn’t the end of it. Kathy was so excited about
her find that she posted the concept of the Night
in Zarahemla Christmas party in the
ward activities mailing list, generating a lot
of hubbub in the process. The excitement grew when
we learned that one of the members of our group —
Krista Darrach — had already written and produced
a second program to go with the concept of Christmas
in the Americas.
This
second program, entitled “Christ the Lord,” also centers
on the New World Christmas story. As soon as Krista
posted her script on a website,
the activities committee chairmen breathed a collective
sigh of relief. It wasn’t even September yet, and
all of us had our Christmas programs ready to go.
Other
Alternatives
What
happens after you’ve spent a “Night in Bethlehem”
and “Christmas in Zarahemla”? You don’t have to go
back to ham-and-Santa unless you want to. Activities
chairmen on the ward activities mailing list have
produced a “Christmas in Nauvoo,” “A Dickens Christmas,”
and other variations on the theme.
Debra
Woods of Bountiful, Utah, posted a Bethlehem variation
— this one called “A Walk through Bethlehem.” This
is what she wrote:
