What memories does Christmas evoke for you? My childhood memories include traveling many hours by car to visit relatives we hadn’t seen all year. The inviting smell of cinnamon baked into special desserts. The enticing glitter of meticulously wrapped presents bathed in a Christmas tree’s soft lights. The welcoming sound of carolers. And my mom shoving me through throngs of shoppers to get day-after-Christmas deals. But what about the sights, sounds, and smells of the first Christmas?
Mary and Joseph’s travel was mandatory.
Food ran low on their ten-day trek. Their sharpened hunger dulled the pain of their home town’s rejection.
Roman soldiers barked their demands to lines of pilgrims. Declare your family members. Land. Assets. How did Joseph answer? He had just lost everything except his betrothed and a child that wasn’t his.
Frazzled throngs fought over sleeping space.
Animal smells mingled with human sweat.
Only shepherds and Wise Men noticed the night pregnant with heavenly anticipation.
Mary’s birthing pains split the air, cuing the angels to sing the world’s first carol.
God smiled as His plan of redemption became flesh.
And the young couple, awed by the miracle of birth, wondered how they would raise God’s child.
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