It's beginning to look like Bethlehem!

Tree Setup Week started Saturday morning bright and early as volunteers showed up to do some more building on the set and unload the tree. The Tree is held in storage during the year and brought to the church in pieces in a big truck. It's unloaded into the church gym then brought onto the stage on Monday morning to be assembled. It takes about a day to fully assemble the Tree structure; many more days to plug in the lights; and many more days to program all of the lights to each song.

The set this year was built early on in the summer, and until now it had been weathering in a farmers field. It was brought to the church to be completed and assembled. It took a little while to figure out how to paint the "buildings" to look like aged stone, but after a few trial runs they are really beginning to look realistic.

Volunteers cook and bring in meals throughout the Tree Setup Week to keep the other volunteers nourished during the long days and nights. It is truly amazing to see so many people using whatever talent they have to bring this set together, whether it be painting, building, or even vacuuming!

It is really heart-warming to see ordinary people devote so much time and energy to any and all aspects of this production.