Cutest Little Shepherd EVER!!

Last week Sean and I both helped set up for the Festival of Nativities that the local stakes [for our church] put on this year. It was on a much bigger scale than we have ever seen before and we were quite impressed. We went Friday night and Ethan was kind of a stinker from the moment we got there and didn't really want to do anything or look at any of the nativities. Sean managed to hold his attention a little by having him look for the baby Jesus in each of the nativities. Of course, there were "Please Do Not Touch" signs everywhere which makes it even harder for little ones. This was one of my favorite nativities and I think they said it came from Israel. Beautiful.
This was definitely the most abstract one. Never seen anything quite like it.
Then we attempted to go into the kids room. Ethan, not knowing it was the kids room, drug his feet the whole way to the point that I had to carry him in! Finally, we got to another table of nativities with a sign that said "Please Touch". I told Ethan that these ones were all for touching and he immediately jumped down and started playing with all the kid-friendly nativities. In this room they also had a story tent and a dress-up tent. I asked Ethan if he wanted to dress-up at all and he was quick to respond "no!" Told you he was being a stinker! A little while later Sean and I asked again and he was pretty quick to say "no!" again. Then he thought for a second and said, "a shepherd." Awesome! We took him right over to the dress-up tent where they out-fitted him in 3-year-old-sized shepherd attire and I was very pleased to see that they had a fresh hair cover for each child before any head pieces were put on. Yay! No stressing over lice. Ethan didn't really like the "hat", so it came off pretty fast, but he agreed to put it back on so we could take some pictures - thus, the crooked headpiece with lots of the blue hair cover showing. Oh well, he was still a dang-cute shepherd!

First things first, he had to hold the baby Jesus.
Then we had to get a picture of the shepherd by his sheep.
Then the headpiece was off again and he was back to playing. Although, the rest of the costume stayed on for quite a while.
There was also a nativity scene photo-op with face openings for Mary, Joseph, a shepherd and a wise man. This time, Ethan went with a wise man.

The next room was also kid-friendly: Joseph's workshop. Ethan enjoyed building with the wooden blocks and I was quite impressed with his tower. One of those developmental accomplishments that parents pay attention to!
And then Ethan was able to do a little baby Jesus in a manger craft with some help from mommy. I have to say, the lady directing us needed to chill a little. You had to draw your own face on the wood bead that was being used for the head and she first corrected him when he drew on the top of his head and then again when he just scribbled a little where the face should be. Um, he's three. And you're asking him to draw a face on a round bead the size of my thumb. I, his mother, am more than happy with the scribbles instead of a face. Why aren't you?! Then, the only glue they had for the halo part didn't dry very fast and the halo immediately fell off. Ethan put it back on, but a little crooked and the lady said [a little rudely], "well, I guess baby Jesus will just have to have a crooked halo." Seriously? Again. He's three. Relax! Luckily, Ethan didn't even notice and was all smiles and perfectly pleased with his creation. Exactly the outcome and positive reinforcement I was hoping for!
As we were leaving, we asked Ethan what his favorite part was. Without hesitation he said, "the please touch room!"