Where to see live Nativity scenes in SLO County. One is even a drive-thru.

The holiday season means different things to different people.

While some light menorahs or wait for Santa Claus to come down the chimney, Christians use the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Two churches, one in the North County and one in the South County, will honor the event with live Nativity scenes — performances depicting the biblical story of Jesus’ birth.

Oak Park Christian Church

It’s the gift that keeps on giving, even 25 years later.

Oak Park Christian Church will once again hold its “The Gift” drive-thru Nativity scene in Grover Beach on Saturday and Sunday night, featuring a multitude of actors, sets, costumes and live animals depicting the life story of Jesus.

“The idea is this is supposed to be a gift for our community to help maybe cut through some of the commercialism, some of the things the Christmas season has kind of devolved into for society,” Mike Gunderson said Friday from his pastor’s office at the church.

Each year, the event draws hundreds of people through the church’s horseshoe-shaped parking lot. About 900 people stop by over the two days of the Nativity performance, Gunderson said, though they have had as many as 1,300 viewers in a weekend.

“For a lot of people, it really starts off their Christmas season,” he said. “The response we get mostly, is ‘Now Christmas has begun; now I’m in the Christmas spirit.’ ”

Though the drive-thru Nativity scene has been around almost as long as the church, no one can agree on exactly how old it is, Gunderson said, but most agree it’s been staged for 25 or 26 years.

Organizing the popular event is a massive undertaking each year, Nativity director Jennifer Guerra said, involving 100 volunteers who build and repair the sets, make costumes, chaperone the children and act in the scenes.

“I’m surprised every year,” she said with a laugh. “We’ll have these conversations of how much stuff needs to be done, and then it happens, and we don’t know how it happens. It’s definitely not our hand in it.”

The Nativity scene features more than just the classic scene of Mary and Joseph looking over baby Jesus in a manger — it’s more a focus on the life story of Jesus, from prophecies before his birth to Resurrection, Gunderson and Guerra said. Viewers are given a CD at the start, which narrates the scenes as they drive past.

The actors are a mix of children, families and individual churchgoers, with many participating in specific scenes every year.

Guerra has played Mary, and her son played both baby and toddler Jesus. Gunderson’s sons have been the guinea pigs for several scenes more than once, from standing on a trio of crosses mimicking the Crucifixion to the time one of them was hoisted into the air in a harness as an ascending Jesus. Unfortunately, he became nauseated after the wind had him spinning in circles.

Gunderson probably has the cushiest job the night of the Nativity: He traditionally has a cameo between the last two stops in the Nativity, where he and other church members (and sometimes their pets) sit wrapped in blankets on a couch in a scene as a family.

“I promise I didn’t get the cushy job because of pastoral privilege,” he said with a laugh. “I inherited that one.”

Templeton Presbyterian Church

A decade ago, the Rev. Charlie Little had to persuade his congregation at Templeton Presbyterian Church to hold a live Nativity scene — now the event is a three-night performance.

Little said he felt a responsibility to tell the story of the Nativity: “The church’s story is the birth of Christ.”

So he persisted, putting the performance on the church’s Main Street front lawn, despite fears the production would come across as “hokey.”

But crowds packed performances in 2015, so this year the church is holding an additional 5 p.m. showing Dec. 18. Performances will also be at 7 p.m. Dec. 16, 17 and 18.

Community members lend animals, including sheep and a donkey, and the church rents a camel. A narrator will tell the Nativity story and silent participants will act out the characters’ roles. Free hot chocolate and cookies will also be served.

“Our goal is modest,” Little said. “We don’t want to embellish.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Where to see live Nativity scenes in SLO County. One is even a drive-thru.."