The first annual live nativity welcomed over 700 people last Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings despite the frigid weather. Students, faculty and their families came to enjoy the classic presentation of the birth of Jesus Christ to Mary in a stable in Bethlehem.

The event began with a carriage ride to the interior of the Henry’s Fork property. Summer Moyer, a freshman from Boerne, Texas, said the carriage ride was one of her favorite parts. “It really was beautiful and the Clydesdales were just majestic,” she said.

As the visitors arrived at the site, fires and hot chocolate welcomed their freezing bodies. They socialized there until the program began.

Void of speaking parts, the nativity was accompanied by a small narration and music throughout the presentation. The nativity even included a live donkey which Mary rode in on and goats to complete the stable environment.

The production involved many participants. Besides the different actors each evening, there were also rotating crews of volunteers in the background making it happen. It was a lot of fun, a good experience and “worth being out in the cold,” said Heather Bake, a sophomore from Fallon, Nev., and volunteer at the nativity.

Rachael Hutchison, a junior from Logan, Utah, was also grateful for the opportunity she had to participate as Mary Thursday night. She said it was an honor to depict such an extraordinary woman. “Mary had to have been such a special person and I got to really think about how she must have felt,” she said.

As with any performance, it had its glitches with wandering donkeys and getting the pregnant belly off of Mary before the spotlight shone. But overall, it provided a unique way for BYU-Idaho students and the community to start off the Christmas season.