I am going to leave the passage we have been looking at since it is Christmas eve and look at Christmas for a couple of days.  This will be my first Christmas without at least one of my parents alive since momma passed away July first.  Momma was always big on Christmas decorations, but she was even bigger on the Christ of Christmas.  When we were young boys, my brother and I went with daddy, mommy, and our sister, into the woods and cut our tree every year.  Some Christmases were not filled with lots of presents, but they were all filled with lots of love and the presence of God.  We didn't start thinking about celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving.  I once said I was a wiseman in a lot of Christmas plays, but I was actually a shepherd.  Daddy would make us shepherd staffs, hook and all, and momma would make our costumes.  I have been caroling a few times in my life, where I would at least make a joyful noise.  Today, Christmas seems to have become more about material things than the birth of Christ.  Thanksgiving has become more of a day to think about Black Friday than to celebrate blessings as we gear up for Christmas.  We are told we only have sixty something shopping days left until Christmas, as if we did not know what day Christmas is and shopping is our main priority.   We have Christmas in July for television movies, Christmas parades the first few days of December, and the worry about what gift to get for each person we feel the need to buy for.  By Christmas Eve, we are worn down with Christmas.  So, what was that first Christmas Eve like?  Mary and Joseph were still completing there journey to Jerusalem, and the world was continuing its normal routine.  Mary especially had to be tired, but not from shopping.  The world would not note the birth the next day, and they certainly didn't pay attention to Mary and Joseph.  Still, Mary and Joseph knew the promise of the meaning of the coming birth.  The world today still does not understand the true meaning of Christmas, which is why we as followers of Christ must point them to it.  This Christmas Eve, let's keep Christ first in our Christmas thoughts and let the material things come second.