Come Stroll with Me!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by

  Two Writing Teachers.

One of the perks of retirement is more time to do what I want to do.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to serve as a host at our Festival of the Nativities, a combined effort by many congregations in our area.  While I have attended the festival in the past, I've never felt that I could spare the time to host. It was a delight to spend my first shift in the main hall and then spend my last two hours in the Children's Nativity Room before staying to enjoy a performance by the Total Experience Gospel Choir.  This event is free and open to the public.  As a host, I learned a few important details . . .

# of nativities displayed - 544

# of Christmas trees - more than 100

# of poinsettias - 350 (give or take a few)  

and the location of some important items on the scavenger hunt created for families with children.

I spent a large portion of my time in the main hall looking for zebras in nativities.  There were supposed to be four, but I found five.  Once I started looking for zebras, I was delighted to find many other unusual animals in scenes from a variety of countries.  Because I selected an afternoon and an early evening shift where they had the greatest need for hosts (but also the lightest traffic), I took advantage of the time to snap photos of some favorite scenes to share on Facebook, Twitter, and with my fellow slicers.

A moose and a polar bear

An elephant

Bolivian nativity with a llama

Carved from one piece of wood

My favorite - Raku pottery from South Africa
with a giraffe, alligator, monkey, hippo, & others

Created out of horsehair, from Chile

One of the five zebras in the main hall

Cowpokes in the children's room!

A tiny scene on a tree stump

Alaska

Animals at the manger - for Lee Bennett Hopkins, Helen Cann,
and all the poets who contributed to Manger.