This evening we took a Gett (like Uber) car to the Palestinian border by Bethlehem. We were dropped off by the border crossing and after showing our passports, we left Israel and entered Palestine through a no man’s land that felt like a concrete tunnel.
All of the Western Bank is separated by a grand wall. It’s not an easy border crossing. In 2022 Israel began building the West Bank Wall to separate Palestinian territories from Israel. It is built mostly of fences and in some places it is built of high concrete walls. It is 708 kilometers (439 miles).
The drivers could only take us to the checkpoint, now that Bethlehem is in the West Bank. They dropped us there and we had to walk through a tunnel of demilitarized zone not unlike crossing into Jordan. We were the ONLY ones there when we arrived at about 4:30. Where were the crowds??? We were told it would be a grid lock of cars and people. We’d decided to walk into town (about 1.5 miles) to avoid the traffic.
We walked Alone through the hilly streets along the Wall which reminded me of the Berlin Wall. It was cement and very high, covered everywhere with graffiti and topped with rolls of barbed wire. It was a long walk. The streets were empty, but started looking more festive as we came into the center of town approaching Bethlehem Square. There were star decorations strung across the cobblestone streets. Shop doors were colorful and closed. We saw remnants of a parade there earlier in the day (candy wrappers on the ground and some confetti). All was still. We trudged on, thinking of Mary and Joseph and the donkey. 
We eventually made it to the square. It wasn’t crowded. Most celebrating looked like locals. There were some vendor booths, almost all selling the same thing: corn–boiled on the cob, cut off the cob, or frozen corn heated in a big pan over a fire. They sold it sprinkled with different spices like paprika. We got one cob to try for $2.
The Church of the Nativity was blocked off. Only VIPs could enter. They said the President had been there. There was a Mass scheduled for 9:00 and midnight, but you had to have tickets. So we just wandered around the square watching people. We went in and out of a few of the souvenir shops around the square, mostly selling Nativities made of olive wood. 
We stepped into a couple olive wood factories. Everyone says that since COVID, sales have been poor and inventory is high.
We found a great falafel shop and enjoyed resting our feet (we walked almost 9 miles today) while we had a delicious Christmas Eve meal.
What an interesting Christmas Eve. I expected swarms and crowds of people flocking to Bethlehem. It felt more like a small local party, not particularly Christian. The square wasn’t very crowded and there weren’t many tourists, although the Church of the Nativity was probably full to the brim for Mass. We just couldn’t see any of those visitors.
Of course we thought about Mary and Joseph and their trek to Bethlehem. Everything is hilly here and the walking can be hard. My feet were so tired and my legs ached. As I looked out into the dark fields on the edges of town, I wondered about that night of all Wonders, when the star shown down on this very place.