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One of the things I love about this time of year is our traditions on Christmas Eve. We start with the nativity story, reading from the scriptures and using vibrantly colorful felt figures that the younger kids help put up on a flannel board. We have short discussions as we read. (Ideas such as ‘we don't really know how many wise men there were; people usually say three because there are three gifts listed in the scriptures' are among the many topics we have covered.) As our kids have gotten older, our discussions have become more in-depth.

This year our discussion lasted longer than usual. Our older kids had some neat insights and our youngest had contributions beyond even her usual perceptive understanding. Some of these ideas were familiar to Ray and me, but some of them involved new awareness and understanding for all of us.

Because our focus on the Savior of the World should continue throughout the entire year and not just through the Christmas season, I want to review some of these perceptions and lessons learned through the birth of Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:26–38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to Mary, a virgin espoused to Joseph. “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” Mary was troubled at this introduction. Did she wonder why an angel would visit her, a common nondescript woman, seeing herself as a ‘regular Jane'?

“Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.” The footnote directs one to the Topical Guide: Fearfulness, which in part says to see Courage and Fear of God. Fear of God includes references to Honor, Obey, Respect, and Reverence. Mary recognized this visit as an unusual occurrence, but I would like to think that rather than being scared and trembling she was in awe and reverencing this heavenly visitor. Think of the confidence and strength Mary gained from knowing she had found favour with God!

Mary had questions (“How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”) yet listened with an open mind to the answers. She didn't receive a complete answer, but she received enough assurance and details to know she would conceive through the power of God and her child would be called the Son of God. She also received the knowledge that her cousin Elisabeth had conceived in her old age and the reminder that “with God nothing shall be impossible.” I am in awe of Mary for many reasons, but her response to this heavenly visit earns my eternal gratitude: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Ray pointed out that “handmaid” is a softened version of the word from the original Greek that would be translated normally as ‘slave-girl.' Mary really was submitting to the will of the Lord.

There are two lessons in this account. The first personal application is one I've thought of frequently. How do I respond to the callings and mission the Lord has for me to accomplish? Do I live so as to find favour with God? Am I willing to accept difficult assignments, especially when I don't have complete answers to my questions about how to fulfill them? The second lesson is new insight from my oldest son and something I hadn't previously considered, at least consciously. Mary had the agency to choose whether or not to accept this assignment. The angel didn't come and say, ‘You will do this' rather he told Mary she was blessed among women, favoured of God, and capable of fulfilling this most important mission. He answered her questions, stilled her doubts, and confirmed the power, omnipotence, and omniscence of God. Mary could have said that she couldn't do this, that she didn't understand enough, that she was worried about what this might do to her reputation and her impending marriage. Instead she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” She trusted the Lord and knew Him well enough to do something that must have seemed rather incomprehensible and overwhelming to her. My mission in life will never be as magnificent and comprehensive as Mary's, but I long to follow in the footsteps of her faith and trust in the Lord.

Matthew 1:18–25

Joseph often becomes a silent figure in the nativity. Yet his role as earthly father (almost a stepfather role, as one of our kids pointed out) was vital to the mortal development and growth of Jesus as a child. When Mary was found with child, Joseph was “minded to put her away privily”—which suggests compassion and gentleness, rather than the humiliated public example he might have made her in that day and age. It was “while he thought on these things”—considering his options for what was the best thing to do for Mary and for himself, not acting in anger and haste in immediately casting her away—that the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and gave him the reassurance and knowledge that marrying Mary was the right thing to do.

I have always admired Joseph for his ability to trust the Lord and to trust Mary. That must have taken great courage. He “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife,” and then (incredibly!) “knew her not” until after the birth of Jesus. The faith of Joseph is just as mighty as Mary's! There are lessons to be learned from Joseph having compassion, not jumping to conclusions, thinking through major decisions, trusting the Lord, doing the right thing even when it is contrary to public opinion, and many more.

Luke 2:1–19

Each year our discussion brings out these points: “all the world should be taxed” does not mean the entire earth; rather it was the part of the world under the rule of Caesar Augustus Bethlehem means ‘House of Bread' and one of the names of Jesus is the Bread of Life and “every one into his own city” in our day would have us traveling to Santaquin, Utah, to pay taxes.

This year our discussion also focused on the timing. The scripture states “while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.” While this is not an unusual way to designate timing, “days” is still plural. This was not likely a time frame of Joseph and Mary ‘arriving in Bethlehem, finding no room in the inn, settling quickly in the stable, and Mary giving birth' all within a few hours. Being “great with child” could last a month or longer and childbirth is rarely a quick event to the chagrin of any woman who has ever been pregnant! (We did not go into quite that much detail with our kids ?)

We read about the shepherds and their experiences. An angel appeared to them and said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” A heavenly host joined the angel in praising God. When they had left, the shepherds decided to go to Bethlehem to “see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” They came “with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” And then they talked about what they had seen; they talked about it a lot; they “made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.”

Our discussion centered on a few key phrases. First, the angels did not tell the shepherds to go to the stable. The shepherds decided to go see the Christ Child after the angels had left. They went with haste—they didn't linger in their fields. At least one shepherd would have been left to watch the sheep and keep them safe. We discussed possible scenarios: Was there more than one shepherd who stayed behind to tend the flock? Was there just one who didn't get to see because of his duty to the flock but believed the others when they returned (as in The Forgotten Carols)? And then one of the kids suggested that maybe the shepherds went in shifts—that smaller groups went and then returned to watch the sheep, so that others could also go and have the opportunity to see the Newborn King. That was a new idea for me to consider.

These verses end with the distinction that while the shepherds “made known abroad” their experiences concerning the child, Mary “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” This is something that I have often pondered why the shepherds would so easily share their joy in the birth of the Savior when Mary kept it close to her heart. I believe some of Mary's reasoning is in the sacred nature of the entire experience for her the visit from the angel, the compassionate treatment from Joseph, the knowledge that she carried the Son of God, the birth of the Christ Child. There are experiences I have had that I share with very few others because of how special and sacred they are for me. Yet all of these circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus are known to us because they were shared with the disciples, and then they recorded them as scripture. So I wonder why else Mary would not have shared her thoughts and feelings and experiences?

I would be interested in your own viewpoints about why Mary might have done this.

Matthew 2:1–11

“…there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Later, after the wise men had talked with Herod and they departed for Bethlehem, “the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” This chapter contains the only references about the star in the New Testament. Often people think the shepherds followed the star to the stable (or that the star was over the stable the entire time) but it is never mentioned in their part of the story. We know more about the new star that appeared because of the prophesy given by Samuel the Lamanite in Helaman 14:1–8.

Herod “enquired of [the wise men] diligently what time the star appeared.” As we discussed these verses, our kids said, ‘What? Did Herod not even notice the new star?! How could he not have paid attention to something so obviously different in the sky?! Was he so preoccupied with his power and excesses that he wasn't even looking up?!' Herod also had to ask the chief priests and scribes “where Christ should be born.” He must not have been very familiar with their scriptures (Old Testament), or at the least he was so skeptical of the prophecies of old that he didn't pay much attention to them. Herod also sent the wise men to Bethlehem to “search diligently for the young child.” Our family talked about how Herod viewed the King of the Jews—the Israelites were expecting a ruler, a king, a military leader who would free them from the oppressive Roman rule. However, Herod did not want to lose his power and status—to the point of diligent inquiry and paranoia. His order to kill the babies under the age of 2 in Bethlehem shows how far he was willing to go to maintain his power-hungry control and suppress even the possibility that the King of the Jews might have come as an infant (however absurd that seemed to most Israelites).

There are other phrases in these verses that we discussed, as popular versions of the nativity (both story and creche display) often seem to forget these implications. “Go and search diligently for the young child”—”the star… went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was”—”And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary…” The wise men were not at the stable. By the time they had traveled from the east, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were living in a house, still in Bethlehem, and Jesus was no longer an infant.

I also find it important that the wise men “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” when the star stood over where Jesus was, when they knew their long journey was at an end and they had found Whom they had been searching.

The final new insight from my kids came as we talked about the wise men presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were not minor gifts; they were expensive, fit for a King. The idea was offered that possibly these gifts helped pay the way for Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape from Herod. (Matthew 2:13–15) I had never considered that possibility.

Samuel the Lamanite, after telling the Nephites of the many signs and wonders at the birth and death of Christ, said:

“…that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name. And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits. (Helaman 14:12–13)

And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men —And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved ? (Helaman 14: 28–29; emphasis added)

As a family we read and discuss the nativity story each Christmas Eve in order to focus on the Savior's birth, to focus on the “reason for the season.” But more than that, the biggest reason we consistently review His birth, His life, His atonement, His death, His resurrection, and His gifts to us is this:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. (2 Nephi 25:26; emphasis added)

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.