BY KAREN BOSSICK
It would be easier if Jesus’ birthday came in summer when temperatures are mild and the days long.
But the fact that Christmas comes during the short, cold days of December doesn’t stop a hundred adults and children from celebrating the reason for the season by donning shepherd’s robes and angel wings under the full Sun Valley moon.
The Life Church in Hailey will present its fifth annual Live Nativity at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, in the natural amphitheater behind the church. The church is located 931 River St., catty-corner to Albertson’s.
Caroling will start at 4:30 p.m. as spectators begin arriving. Spectators will be greeted with hot cocoa and homemade cookies and fire pits, or burn barrels, to warm themselves by. There’ll be hay bales set up for seats; attendees are welcome to bring lawn chairs, as well.
“It brings another version to Christmas,” said Evelyn Albrecht, the nativity’s director. “After all, without Christ, there wouldn’t be Christmas.”
This year’s nativity, as in the past, will feature Wise Men riding in on camels, Mary and Joseph arriving with donkey, and live sheep celebrating the birth of the Christ Child. And the Archangel Gabriel, played by Dan Bernhard, will light up, reflecting God’s glory as he announces the coming of the Son of God.
Dick Williams will narrate the pageantry while the choir sings songs like “The First Noel,” “O Holy Night,” “Hope Has Come” and Mariah Carey’s version of “Joy to the World.”
The camels, as always, are provided by Camels R Fun in Idaho Falls. They’re no strangers to the area as they participate every year in Ketchum’s Wagon Days parade. The sheep are homegrown.
“The combination of the costumes, the songs, the word of God take you back to what it might have been like that first Christmas night,” said Albrecht. “It kind of gets you out of your own state and thinking about the beautiful gift God gave us through his Son.”
The nativity will feature 8-year-old soloist Charlotte Cox singing “Some Children See Him,” a cappella.
Fifteen-year-old Devon Peterson, who has fought back from two bouts of leukemia to become the valley’s miracle child, will portray Mary while a 16-year-old boy plays Joseph.
“Devon has always wanted to be in the Nativity so we’re just hoping and praying she stays healthy to do so,” said Albrecht.
A six-month-old baby will portray Baby Jesus, although the baby’s role will be usurped by a doll if the temperature dips under 10 degrees.
The busiest person in the entire event has been Lindi Lewallen, who has designed new costumes and tailored old ones to this year’s performers.
“She’s stitched the whole thing together,” said Albrecht.