Who, do you think was fully prepared for Christmas #1?
Were the stores that day full of last-minute shoppers in search of Tax Day (or census day) gifts?
Were the huts and houses decked out with candles and Garland?
Were the theaters and houses of worship offering special shows and musicals?
Did anxious children find it hard to sleep that night?
Hoping that St. Moshe would soon be there?
I don't think so.
While people were expecting the Messiah, they really were not prepared for his coming. The prophets had predicted a coming Savior, the Messiah, who would be born of a virgin, from the ancestral line of David, born in Bethlehem – all Jews, even the marginally religious – had known such things from the time they were toddlers.
And yet on the eve of the very first Christmas business pretty much went along as usual for most. People came home from work and cleaned up for dinner. Children played in the dusty streets until time for bed. Spouses rolled over and gave good night kisses before turning out the light. It was a day just like any other day in the Roman Empire.
