My First Christmas LetterLuke 1:26-38

12/24/2017Our Dear Friends,

Well, here is this year's holiday letter! I’m not sure how good I’ll do with this because this is the first Christmas letter that I’ve written. I would rather that Mary write these things, but she has been busy with other more important things, so she told me that it was my turn to write this letter. Especially since it was my side of the family that had us so busy last year, out of town and all, and staying in places you wouldn’t believe! So that’s why you didn’t hear from us last year.

We hope that all of you have heard by now that we are parents. When I first found out that Mary would be expecting, it came as quite a surprise.

It also complicated things because Mary and I weren't married yet. I thank God for our supportive families, and especially Mary’s Cousin Liz.

As you can guess, when I first found out that Mary was expecting, I wasn't sure whether to go ahead with our upcoming marriage or not. Believe it or not, I was more worried about Mary’s good name than my own. Anyway, in the middle of trying to decide what we should do, I got this heavenly inspiration and became convinced that the only thing we could do was to get married. The next time we see

you, you really do need to ask me to tell you the story. It will send shivers down your spine!

Mary and I do really believe the hand of God was in all of this. Mary couldn't believe her ears when I told her what I wanted to name our child. It was the very name that she had dreamed of to call him! When Mary told me that, it brought tears to both our eyes.

It has been very busy since then. Mary spent time with Cousin Liz, helping her prepare for her new little one, John. By the way, belated congratulations to Zechariah and Liz with little John. I hear that Zechariah is able to speak for himself, again. Knowing old Zech, I’m not sure if that is good news or bad news for the rest of us! (That’s a joke, Zechariah) Mary tells me to thank Cousin Liz again for all your support and helpful advice to a mother-to-be as young as her.

Many of you have also heard by now that our baby son was born while we were out of town, traveling. Mary keeps on giving me a hard time that she should’ve found a nice Jewish boy from the tribe of Zebulun, so she could have stayed in Nazareth when the time came for her to deliver. I let her know that having to go to Bethlehem for the registration is the price one pays for having the royal blood of the House of David. Dear Mary, of course, just rolls her eyes!

Oh, oh. After that last comment, Mary says she wants equal time in our letter.

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Hi everyone!

Since I was a little girl, I dreamed about how wonderful it would be giving birth to my children. Well, it was nothing like I dreamed. And I'm not just talking about being in labor! (ha, ha). My heart almost broke, because it was the opposite of what I had hoped for. Not only wasn't I in my own bed

for the blessed event, but I wasn't even in a bed! I ended up being on the ground in the middle of an animal stable! I had so many dreams of the nursery I would lay my little son down to sleep in. He didn't even spend his first nap in a bed. The softest thing around was that stable's feeding trough.

And I won't even talk about the animals. Although I do need to say that I was impressed at how well they behaved and how cooperative they were. I know this sounds silly, but it was almost like they were in awe of what was happening.

There were others who found us in that barn too, who had the most interesting and wonderful stories to tell. I remember a couple of shepherds the most. They were okay guys, but all shouting and singing and hugging they did when they walked in the door of the barn and first laid eyes on us and our baby in that manger. Well! I need to say, though, I have never seen grown shepherds cry so much. It actually was quite funny seeing the clean streaks their tears made down their dirty and dusty cheeks. When we told them that they had clean spots running down their faces, they even laughed about it, too. And when they finally left, Joe and I joked that they were trying to wake half the town as they returned to the fields.

Joe and I heard some amazing stories the night our son was born. I know that I was worn out from the delivery, but still, I get tears

in my eyes when I remember what was said. Hardly a day goes by when I don't think about what all these things mean. What they mean for Joe and me. What they mean for our new son. What we think that they mean for the world.

Even when we went to the temple to dedicate our son to God, there was a man, and a woman, too, who almost seemed to be waiting for us.

That old man I will remember the most. When we came up the steps to the temple, he was standing at the top with a smile on his face that seemed to say that he had been waiting his whole life for us to arrive. I don't know what came over me, but when he held out his arms, I put our tiny son into them. Imagine that! Handing our little baby to a complete stranger! And the look that came over his eyes, I still get choked up when I remember it. When he had our baby in his arms, he half spoke, half sung to him, and it seemed as though our baby understood every word and knew just what that old man was saying. Although I only heard the words once, I'm sure that I'll remember them forever.

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Lord, you have now let you servant freeto go in peace as you have promised.

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.

This man told us his name was Simeon and he told us that he was told by God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. And then he started to cry tears of joy. He said that now God had set him free and he could now die in peace. He had finally seen the Messiah.

And then he turned to me. He told me wonderful things that my son would do. But he warned me that my heart would be broken when I saw what would happen to my little boy. I have spent many sleepless nights since then thinking about those words, too.

An older woman who introduced herself as Anna also told us lots of things about our little baby. As a matter of fact, she told these things to anyone who would listen.

And if you thought we'd been through enough already, on a whim we decided to move out of the country, to Egypt!. I thought Joe was crazy when he woke me up in the middle of the night as he was packing up our things. Next thing I knew, we were on our way out of town, even before the sun rose. I kept on thinking, this is no way to treat a young family. But I didn't say much, because Joe seemed to be in such a panic.

This is Joe, again. The strangest thing happened to me the night after some foreign visitors found the three of us. I can’t describe it in words, but as a result of some inspiration (or was is a dream – or was it a vision?) I just knew we had to get out of town. And fast!

It was a good thing we left. I'm sure everyone has heard by now what happened just after we left. My heart still aches for all those mothers and fathers who had their little children ripped from their arms. And I'll never be able to read the prophet Jeremiah again, without shedding a tear for all those parents. It felt as though we were witnessing these words coming true:

A voice was heard in Ramah,wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;she refused to be consoled,

because they are no more.

I think of all those little toddlers and babies who were killed around Bethlehem by those awful Roman soldiers, well, I just don’t have any words that work.

Well, I didn't write to make us sad.

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Oops, here comes Mary again. She tells me to hurry and end the letter or else she’ll never let me write another holiday letter if I keep going on and on like this. But there’s so much more to tell!

This is Mary again. You know men… Sometimes, if you let them, they just go on and on and on!

Everything is going well for us here. Thank you to all who got our new address in Egypt from our folks and have written to us. We do all miss you so very much. We don't know when we'll move back closer to home. Joe says we'll know when the time is right. He certainly does seem to have new a different and perspective on life nowadays.

Our little son is growing into such a beautiful little boy. He has my eyes, my ears and my chin. He also has grandpa Joachim's nose. He looks so much like me. Joe is getting a bit tired of all the ribbing he's getting, though. Everyone one says our little one looks so handsome, nothing like Joseph. (ha, ha, ha) Joe says he really misses those days when Zechariah was mute!

Mom tells me that all of you are wondering what we'll be doing with those gifts those rich strangers brought us. Joseph says that once we're back home in Nazareth, he's going to open up his own woodworking shop. He fancies that his son is going to make a name for himself as the best carpenter in the region. He says that every boy needs to learn an honest trade to amount to anything. I think our son will amount to something whether he's a carpenter or not.

Every day we give thanks to the Lord for how he has blessed us and protected us. God's blessings upon you all in this joyous holiday season!

With all our love,

MaryJoseph,

and little Jesus

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