Thank You for visiting our Blog. Please go to alpinelivingnativity.org to get information for this years nativity and to get your tickets.

2012 NATIVITY DATES

Thur Nov 29th, Fri 30th, Sat Dec 1st
and Mon 3rd

Time: 6-9pm

Place: 900 North Main Street
           Alpine

Dates for December 2011

Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd
& Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th.

Time 6-9pm

900 North Main Street, Alpine

The Living Nativity is a way to remember why we celebrate Christmas. Come enjoy a live cast,
a Bethlehem market street, animals, and a hayride. The Living Nativity is a journey back in
time as you walk through the sights and sounds from thousands of years ago to the time when
Jesus was born.

You will be summoned by Roman Soldiers, greeted at the city gates by wise men from the
East and their camels. A carpenter and blacksmith can be seen working at their trade, along
with pottery makers, weavers, bakers, shepherds with their sheep, and more. If you follow
the star, it will lead you to the newborn babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Take a "Step Back in Time" on
December 5th-Friday, Dec. 6th-Saturday & Dec 8th-Monday
Each night from 6-9pm
Meet at the church on 900 N Main Street, Alpine, for your ride into Bethlehem.

The Beginning of a Christmas Tradition

It all began with a dream I had several years ago. In 2002 my mother, Irene Hayes, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was given a few short months to live. Instead, we enjoyed a wonderful year with her. During that year, she received treatments from the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The staff at the Huntsman was amazing--kind, compassionate, and genuinely caring. They made mom's treatments almost bearable. We were so grateful for the wonderful facility and how they cared for her. Mom and I talked about how nice it would be to do some sort of fund-raiser for the Huntsman in return for all they were doing for her. We thought of things like bake sales, craft boutiques, 5 K runs, etc. Then one night I had a dream that my family put on a big play and the people liked it so much we kept doing it night after night. After the play was over, we had raised over 1 million dollars for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I told this dream to mom and we just laughed. She knew first hand how much work a production like that would take.A few months after mom passed away, the holidays were here and I was missing her so much and wondered how our family would make it through Christmas without her, when the thought and vision of this nativity came to me. I could see the whole thing so clearly, as if mom had helped paint this picture for me from heaven. But, we only had a few weeks before Christmas. In three weeks time, my whole family jumped on board and we held the first Living Nativity. It was miraculous how it all came together--so many people were willing to help! We lined up animals, costumes, hot chocolate, trailers, and lots of people to volunteer each night. We felt like mom was helping us from above as so many things fell into place.During that first production of the nativity, we saw the children's eyes light up and their parent's eyes fill with tears as they saw the "real baby Jesus." One boy said, "Mom, every year we go see Santa, how come this is the first year we've come to see the baby Jesus?" We felt such a special spirit and knew we were a part of a Christmas tradition for years to come.We are so grateful for a mother who taught us by example how to serve as Christ did, how to love like He does, what Christmas is really about and the true spirit that can be felt when we have our hearts in the right place. We have donated every penny of the donations to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and people have been so generous. But the money collected is the icing on the cake. More importantly, we feel closer to our mother, closer to our Savior, and our family loves the tradition of the Living Nativity that we have created. We think Mom looks forward to this tradition as much as we do. We hope that the community feels the spirit of this night and keep it with them throughout the year.