A Roman Solider Build

One Sunday morning in November, Matt's phone rang while he was in the shower, so I picked it up thinking it was someone from the ward...and it was. It was a lady from the activities committee. She wanted to speak to Matt, but since he was unavailable, she told me that the ladies on the activities committee thought that Matt had a "Roman Solider Build" and would like to cast him for the part in the ward Christmas party nativity. I didn't dare answer for Matt on that one so I yelled to him and asked him if he'd be willing. There was another catch to the deal. Not only would he have to dress up for the play, they wanted him to dress up the 2 Sundays prior to the activity and go around to each class in costume and read a scroll saying something to the affect of, "By the decree of Caesar Augustus, each family was to report to the City of Bethlehem on the 13th day of the month of December 2008 to be taxed. Each family would be taxed canned goods....etc etc". Matt hesitantly agreed to play the part. Little did I know, this would be the true test of his testimony. Although he didn't do it without lots of whining to me about how silly it was and how he didn't think he should wear a skirt to church, he was a good sport and did a good job. He came into primary while I was in there playing the piano and all the little kids ooooed and aaaahed. I'm sure all the Relief Society ladies ooooed and aaaahed as well, but Matt would be too embarrassed to admit that to me. A Roman Solider build, huh? What do you think?

That's the inn keeper who let Mary and Joseph stay in his stable with Matt. Matt and I are in our party attire in the picture below. The whole ward dressed up in costume. They set up the food like little markets...the meat market, fruit market, bread market etc. They gave each family a pouch of coins to pay for the food. Pretty cute idea.

Here's our friend, Darrin, the costume shop owner, looking very suspicious. They also had each family bring a blanket to sit on while eating dinner. It was pretty fun, and did kind bring a little bit of the Bethlehem feel.

The costumes were all amazing! They built the stable out of fence wood that had been taken down by Hurricane Ike. There was plenty of that to be had!