Joseph groaned, dismay shown clearly on his haggard face. It was the fifth inn he had visited. He had hoped to find a room in this inn, but sadly, it, too, was full.
"Sorry, we don't have rooms for anyone. The census ordered by the emperor had hordes of Israelites flooding to our small, old town. Bethlehem. We have no room left," Eli, the innkeeper, exclaimed.
"Please, do you have any place to stay? Any place at all? It doesn't even have to be an inn," Joseph pleaded. "As you see, my wife is pregnant and about to give birth…"
Eli sighed, "There is no room at the inn, but if you need a place to stay… Perhaps the stable will do. It is full of dirty animals, though."
Joseph replied gratefully, "It will do. Thanks for the offer!"
Anna, the innkeeper's wife prepared clean straws and blankets for the couple as she led the couple to the stable. Mary laid gently onto the straws prepared by Anna. She felt pain in her stomach… as her birth drew nearer. She grew into labor pain. With a cry, Mary finally gave birth to Jesus. Eight shepherds arrived to witness the scene of Jesus' birth.
"We are informed by angels of the birth of the Savior," David, a shepherd, declared to Mary and Joseph when he arrived, with a group of shepherds. "Here is a lamb to celebrate His birth!"
Mary and Joseph thanked the shepherd profusely for his gift of a lamb. A few months later, three magi from the east visited Mary and Joseph.
"We have seen the star of the one who is to be born King of the Jews!" declared Melchior, one of the magi. "I offered him the gift of gold."
"We have traveled far because we wanted to meet the King," said Gaspar, another one of the magi."I offered him the gift of frankincense."
"We are glad we finally get to see the King," exclaimed Balthazar, the last of the magi. "I offered him the gift of myrrh."
Joseph and Mary were amazed at the gifts the three magi had to offer them. Indeed, their son was no ordinary child, but must have been the prophesied savior of the world. Joseph and Mary felt honored by God for such a task of raising such a special child. They were ordinary people, yet God had chosen them to be the parents of His Son.