THIS IS how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,” which means, ‘God with us’.
When Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I, too, may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said. “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
After Herod died, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there.
Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Source: Matthew 1:18 – 2:23 (New International Version Bible)

The Story behind Christmas Day
SOMETHING that most people don’t know is that the word ‘Christmas’ when translated means: ‘Mass of Christ’.
Even more interesting is the way people the world over celebrate the holiday.
In China, persons celebrate Christmas by decorating their homes and trees with paper lanterns, paper flowers, and paper chains. 
In Iran, people refrain from eating any animal products from December 1 until after Christmas church services on December 25, after which they have a traditional feast of chicken stew. 
In Venezuela, on the other hand, the folks there attend daily morning church services between December 16 and December 24.  In the capital, Caracas, it is customary to roller skate to these services. 
People in northern Brazil celebrate Christmas with a traditional play called ‘Los Pastores’ (‘The Shepherds’).  In the Brazilian version of this play, the shepherds are always women, and there is a scene where a gypsy attempts to kidnap the Christ child.
All across the world, people ‘Do Christmas’ differently.
Christmas is a Christian holiday on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus.
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years, since many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born.
The 12 Days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals (parades) with floats, carollers who sing while going from house-to-house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Year’s.
The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, particularly their chief god, Marduk.
Each year as winter arrived, it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos.
To assist Marduk in his struggle, the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year.
This was Zagmuk, the New Year’s festival that lasted 12 days.
The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god.
Tradition called for the king to die at the end of the year, and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.
To spare their king, the Mesopotamians came up with the idea of a ‘mock’ king, whereby a criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king.
At the end of the celebration, the ‘mock’ king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, thus sparing the life of the real king.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea.
Part of that celebration included the exchange of places, whereby the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.
Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls.
As the winter solstice approached with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.
In Scandinavia, during the winter months, the sun would disappear for many days.
After thirty-five days, scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen, the scouts would return with the good news.
A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun.
In some areas, people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.
The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god, Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.
The Roman’s celebrated their god, Saturn.
Their festival was called Saturnalia, which began the middle of December and ended January 1.
With cries of “Jo Saturnalia!” the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).
The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles.
‘Jo Saturnalia!’ was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians thought it an abomination to honour the pagan god.
However, early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.
As Christianity spread, they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts.
At first, the Church forbade this kind of celebration, but it was to no avail.
Eventually, it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.
Some legends claim that the Christian ‘Christmas’ celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December.
The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians, whose religion, Mithraism, was one of Christianity’s main rivals at that time.
The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ Child’s birth has never been pinpointed.
Tradition says that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD, the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast.
In 350 AD, another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, chose December 25 as the observance of Christmas.