To kick off Advent, our church puts on an event called "Night in Bethlehem", during which the whole church is transformed into the Palestine of Jesus' birth - complete with live animals and a baby Jesus to look at. There are kid-friendly (and Bethlehem-themed) crafts and Christmas cookies and apple cider and people dressed up in costumes! It's an event we've taken the girls to every year since they were really little - and this year, they're all of a sudden old enough to really "get" it and participate. They loved it! They wanted to try every single craft and were just so buzzed about the whole thing ... especially Liana, who literally jumped up and down from all the excitement :) It was hard to get good pictures, but here are a few Liana (left) can't even sit still, she's so excited! In the "wood shop", the girls colored a wooden star ornament for our Christmas tree