An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas ~ Mary's Mother

 An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas

  

An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas is a collection of short stories I wrote for my daughter for Christmas. Each story takes 10-15 minutes to read. I wrote it as a way to share the story of Christmas and make it more alive for her without changing the story. I wrote them as an advent collection intending them to be read one each day during the month of December leading up to Christmas.

Each story is the account of the events leading to the birth of Christ as told by someone we either know was there, because they are mentioned in the Biblical account or someone we can guess was there.

Last year I decided to self e-publish my book.

It is available at the following bookseller websites:

iTunes Store, Barns And Nobel, Sony Kobo, Disel, Page Foundry and Baker-Taylor's Bilo.

It is also available at Smashwords.com for ALL ereaders and even as a downloadable PDF for the computer.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94784

          The Bible does not talk about Mary’s family other than mentioning Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin and her husband. Here is what I think Mary’s mother may have thought about all the amazing things that happened to her daughter, son-in-law and her very special grandson.

MARY’S MOTHER

                     When Mary came and told me she was pregnant I was upset. How could this be? She is such a dutiful daughter and Joseph seemed to be an honorable caring man. How could they do this to our families? They were going to be married soon and should have waited! Then Mary told me that Joseph was not the father!
                     Mary told me a tale about an angel of the Lord coming and telling her she was going to have a son! That this was going to be a very special child that would grow up to be a great man and He would do wondrous things! He was going to save our people. Could she truly think she was going to be the mother of the Messiah?! This is hard to believe!
                     I did not know how to handle her being pregnant let alone her ridiculous tale! I sent her off to see her cousin Elizabeth. I had heard some strange rumors about her being pregnant, but I don’t believe all the tall tales I hear! She could not be pregnant because she is way beyond the age to have children and her husband, Zachariah is also very old. They have never had children before so it could not be true. Any way Zachariah will get Mary’s story all figured out. He is a priest so he will get to the truth!
                     Mary spent three months with Elizabeth. When she came home she told me that Elizabeth and Zachariah had a son! They have named him John. Mary told me that Zachariah could not talk when she got there because an angel of the Lord, the same one that had come to her, had told him he would not be able to talk until John was born. Zachariah believed Mary’s story and instructed that I do all I could to help her until the baby was born! I was relieved to hear that Zachariah believed Mary! I was glad she had him to stand for her and protect her from the law. I had wanted to believe Mary but with so much at stake it was hard to. I know I would have helped Mary no matter what.
                     Mary got married to Joseph soon after she got back from Elizabeth’s. Joseph’s business was doing well and Mary was over the morning sickness. She was getting so big and round! You could see the baby kick. The baby seemed to be doing well. Before the baby was born a decree came from Caesar. Everyone had to go to the town of their fathers to register. That meant Mary had to go to Bethlehem with Joseph. I had to go to the place of my husband’s ancestors and would not be able to be with her when she had the baby! I may never get to see my grandchild. Joseph, kind man that he is, got Mary a donkey to ride on so the trip would not be so hard on her. The last I saw of Mary, Joseph and my future grandchild was them walking out of the city gate heading for Bethlehem. I know that Joseph will take good care of Mary and the baby but I still wish I could be there for Mary and the baby.
                     Mary sent word with a friend that was coming to my town. She had a boy just like the angel said! They have named him Jesus! Because all the inns were full they are staying in a stable for a time. Joseph is doing work for some local shopkeeper who sells some of the things he makes. They have made friends in Bethlehem and plan on staying there. They are looking for a house to live in.
                     The friend also said that strange and wonderful things are happening to Joseph, Mary and little Jesus! A star has been over the stable where they live since the night Jesus was born! Shepherds came in from the fields to find the baby Jesus and worship Him the day He was born! They had a wild story about angels telling them about a baby in a manger!
                     I wish I could be there to see all that is going on with my grandson! I want to be there for Mary and Joseph also. I love them all so much. May it be God’s will I see them someday soon!

©Copyrighted Material By Carolyn Hoagland 1995