Candle Nativity

For our Christmas Eve devotional I wanted to try something new. The basic format of songs and scriptures are from the Family Home Evening manual with the added element of the candles. It went pretty well considering my lack of planning. There were so many opportunities for this to go awry but I pressed forward with a smile on my face. I made a little announcement in the beginning that I didn't expect this to go perfectly and that was o.k. etc. No one realized that I was actually giving myself a pep talk and not speaking to them at all!
We didn't know the words to the songs and you can't read them because it's dark. We didn't sing because I was going to play them on the cd player, but decided I didn't want to mess with it at the very last minute. I regret that, though, and will next year. We needed to get up and go get a flashlight because you can't read the scriptures in the dark either! One of the candles was fragranced and it was making C-11's eyes burn. The Aim n Flame was running out of butane and wouldn't light the candles. I squelched all begging/fighting over who was going to light/blow out the candles early on by making it my job, so that worked out well.
We ended with C-11 playing Silent Night on the violin for us and family prayer. We hurried and put Santa's cookies and the reindeer's carrots on his plate, had a few more looks at how Santa was doing on Norad http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html then they headed to bed without too much prompting.
Merry Christmas!

Candle Nativity
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Sing- Joy to the World & O Come All Ye Faithful
Light - Mary & Joseph candles
Read: Luke 2: 1, 4, 5
Sing: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Light: Jesus candle
Read: Luke 2:6& 7
Sing: Away in a Manager
Light: Shepherd Candles
Read: Luke 2:8
Sing: While Shepherds Watched their Flocks
Light: Tallest Angel Candle
Read: Luke 2: 9-14
Light other angel candles
Sing: Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Read: Luke 2: 15-17
Sing: The First Noel
Light: wise men candles
Read: Matt. 2:1,2,9, &11
Sing: With Wondering Awe
Read: Matt. 2:12
Snuff out wise men candles
Read: Luke 2:20
Snuff out shepherd candles
Read: Luke 2:15 "...the angles were gone..."
Snuff out angel candles
Read: "And many years later, Mary and Joseph, being flesh and bone, came to the end of their earthly lives."
Snuff out Mary & Joseph candles.
Read: "But the light that began in Bethlehem was Eternal Life. And this life was the Light of all mankind. The Light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome the light."
"And it all began on a silent, holy night...long ago..."
Sing: Silent Night.

I used whatever candles and holders I had on hand, but if you wanted to take some time to plan this here are some ideas that I read on a website for personalizing them~
Joseph- burgandy and Mary- Blue with burlap around their bases.
Christ- is a white votive on a clear crystal holder about 2" high and looks sort of like an alter.
Shepherds- 4 green candles that are in a round raise candle holder with green velvet underneath to represent the hill side.
Angels- 5 white tall candles that are on an arched holder. I light the center one first and then the others. I have gold star garland wrapped all round the base and the candles.
Wisemen- burgandy with gold trim candles of varying heights in old fashioned single candle holders