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The shepherds wore burlap smocks and dishtowels on their heads. Their sheep were real, but the wise men's camels were plywood.

All the Marys wore light blue dresses and dark blue head cloths; all the Josephs wore brown. And all the angels looked like linebackers. It was called "The Christmas Experience." And I hated it!

But I did it anyways. If you were a serious member of my church, it was just something you did.

For two nights every December, I, my family, and my entire church nearly froze to death so that a few hundred people could take an imaginary trip through the nativity story. Visitors rode hay wagons pulled by noisy tractors through a woodsy area on the edge of a cornfield, to see eight different scenes from the Bible, starting with the angel appearing to Mary and ending with the wise men on their way to Bethlehem.

I debuted in The Christmas Experience as an angel appearing to the shepherds. The shepherds were the jerky boys from my junior high youth group. When they weren't chasing the sheep or playing in the fire (our only source of warmth out on the edge of a cornfield), they were harassing me.

My angel costume was basically a bed sheet with sleeves. Underneath I had to wear my big winter coat, making it look like I weighed 300 pounds. For a halo, I had a garland pinned to a Washington Redskins sock cap. And when I jumped on top of a hay bale to deliver my line, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men," my mittens and moon boots stuck out.

After a few years with the sheep-chasing, fire-playing junior highers at scene 4, I moved up to scene 1: Angel appearing to Mary. The scene 1 angel hid behind Mary's "house" (which looked like a bus stop made of scrap lumber) until the Scripture reader on the wagon said, "The angel went to her and said … " I was then supposed to make a dramatic entrance—without, I learned by experience, walking up the inside of my long angel gown and staggering into a snow drift.

Once announced, I handed Mary a fake rose on a stick. This symbolized the Spirit coming upon her and causing her to become "with child." I'm sure Gabriel pulled the whole thing off with a lot more enthusiasm than I did.

My big break came when Isaiah went to Barbados for his honeymoon. Guess I'd better explain. In addition to typical Christmas story characters—including a plastic baby Jesus—"The Christmas Experience" featured Micah and Isaiah reading prophecies about the coming Messiah. Micah came around the left side of the makeshift stable, the side with the live goat tethered nearby, to read the passage that begins, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah" (Micah 5:2). Isaiah came around the right side of the stable, the cow side, to tell the people walking in darkness about a great light (Isaiah 9:2-7).

The December of my senior year of high school, the guy who usually played Isaiah got married and had to miss The Christmas Experience. I don't know why I, being female and all, got picked to replace him. But I did, and inherited his green robe, striped head cloth, and scroll—a long sheet of rolled-up paper with the Isaiah verses, stained with coffee for that oh-so-authentic antique look.

Playing the nativity (scene 7, for those of you keeping score) had some pretty big advantages. Though all of the scenes had fires, only the nativity had an actual fire pit, so its flame kept burning when the others blew out in the wind or sogged out in snow and mud. The cast of scene 7 was even known to make s'mores between wagons, stashing the fixin's under the manger. Plus, by the time I'd been promoted to Isaiah, the ex-shepherd playing Micah had gotten kind of cute.

(I ended up taking him to my senior prom.)

By the time I'd reached my freshman year in college, I'd been in The Christmas Experience around 10 times. Each time something stupid always happened, and the costumes didn't get any less cheesy. Even so, there was something about the whole experience that continued to draw families to the Nativity tour year after year, despite the wind, snow, sleet or mud. They said it made the Bible story real to them.

Many of us longtime cast members had come to feel the same. Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem (scene 3) were cold, hungry and frazzled at the end of just four hours. They understood how much more the real Mary and Joseph must have suffered. The innkeeper (scene 6) had to yell at wagonloads of guests, saying that he was too busy to help them, but they could sleep in the barn if they wanted to. He found his character's harsh impatience all too natural and could easily imagine how an everyday guy might miss the chance to be part of Jesus' story.

As for me, the prophet? It should have been monotonous to keep reading those words from Isaiah over and over again. To be honest, it was—until this particular year. Those words sunk in and went real deep, and I was amazed by the true meaning of The Christmas Experience:

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned. …
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Read more from 'Fiction'

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