We invited a few families over that we thought would be able to roll with the chaos of our first try. We asked everyone to bring a bottle of wine, a plate of goodies, and their tree if it was still around. I made Doro Wat, which is an Ethiopian, chicken stew, that is very special in Ethiopia, sort of the equivalent of our turkey dinner. I thought this would be fun for our family since we have a little Ethiopian heritage, and it is speculated that the magi likely came from Ethiopia. We built a little fire pit in the back yard to burn the trees on, while we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas. We have friends that act out the different days while they sing, which I thought would be fun. We read about the coming of the magi, and how it represents the gospel going out to all the nations. We wrapped the evening up by singing I Saw Three Ships.
Next year I would like to invite a group of people that I think will likely make it an annual event. I will get injera to go with the Doro Wat. I need to find an authentic King Cake recipe and decorate it with the appropriate colors. I also need to find a plastic baby Jesus to put in the cake (after it is cooked). I think doing a short reading of the story of the magi coming to Jesus. It would be fun to have a star in lights over the house, this may be bordering on overkill. I also need to find some fun activities for the younger kids. Maybe a really simple play for them to perform would be fun. I also found some really fun crown activities on Pintrest a day too late.
The singing was amazing. Inviting choir members was a definite bonus. It was a very fun evening and I think everyone had a good time. The kids all played well. Karsten thought there should have been more sledding. It took us a while to find out who found the bean in the cake. Martha finally admitted it was her, and she had thrown it away. We let her wear the crown anyway, although Ethan ended up with it somehow. For the trial run, it was a success. I think next year will be even better.
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