my family goes to the same mass every year…4 pm christmas vigil on christmas eve. every year, we go to mass, then over to my grandmother’s for finger sandwiches and gift exchange. when i was little, obviously i was anxious to get to the family gathering so i could get all my new toys. the last couple of years i’ve sat there kind of thinking about the christmas story, and how amazing it is. i sat there today just thinking of how joseph must have been struggling with how to deal with mary being pregnant….before he knew she was carrying the Son of God. and then the struggle it was to get to bethlehem and be a part of the census and all that. it’s good to be reminded each year about how everything worked out, and Jesus was brought humbly into the world in a stable. i remember in preschool/kindergarten we had a christmas play every year. i don’t know if it was called a pageant, all i know is that we each got roles. i think when i was 3 years old, i was in the choir. when i was 4 years old, i was a shepherd. when i was in kindergarten, i was able to play joseph. obviously i was able to move up from the choir to joseph pretty easily, must have been politics or something. basically i think we had a few lines, but mostly the teachers narrated. when i was a shepherd, i got to wear a robe and have a big can with a hook on it. i thought it was cool. when i was joseph, i think all i did was stand there, no staff. at the time, i just saw the people involved in the story as characters…not real. it’s interesting to think differently about the people in the christmas story, just to see how the story played out from their perspective. i’ve definitely gained a more mature view on the christmas story as i’ve gotten older, and thinking about it now makes everything more real to me, and even more miraculous.