come to the stable

every year phil and lynn (aka, grandpa and grandma johnson) host a wonderfully fun event called "come to the stables" where we reenact the birth of the savior. they conveniently have, in their backyard, an actual stable where chickens and indio the peacock live.

we dress up like wise men, drink hot chocolate, and enjoy the true spirit of christmas as we celebrate the birth of christ.


otho was determined to be a wise man (normally he's a shepherd) because he wanted to a) give christ a present, and b) he wanted to give christ gold. otho is obsessed with gold and money, so this was a perfect fit for him. he sure does look wise, don'tcha think?


abe was a goofy wise man, wearing his gift on his face. silly boy.


ken was the shepherd hearder (meaning he made sure all of the little shepherd kids knew where to go during the performance). and ellie was a cute little shepherd girl.


riley, who didn't dress up, ran back and forth to the stable during the performance. she was enamored with the baby in the manger. she would run up, peak into the manger, then run back to me. she did this a dozen times.


the final picture of the manger scene. notice riley walking away from her peek in the manger, otho flanking left, and abe on the right. what a beautiful picture they make.


after everyone had left, we stayed to help clean up. the boys and grandpa went around the yard in grandpa's tractor and gathered up piles of leaves. what should we do with piles of leaves? burn them, of course.


the wet leaves put off gobs of smoke, and ken - our resident fire marshall - encouraged the smoke to billow and grow.


the kids followed suit, fueling the flames with more and more yellow leaves.


soon the entire yard was filled with smoke, casting an eerie aura around us. man it was cool. i'm surprised the fire department didn't show up.