The Christmas story

                       

• 
  
  Once upon a time, a very long time ago, a young lady called Mary was visited by a special Angel. The Angel told her that God wanted her to have a very special baby and that he wanted her to call the baby Jesus. 

• Soon after, Mary got married to a man called Joseph. When Mary was due to have her baby very soon, they had to make a very long journey to a town called Bethlehem to pay their taxes.When they arrived in Bethlehem it was so full with people who also had to pay their taxes that Mary and Joseph couldn’t find anywhere to stay as all the inns were full. Poor Mary was very tired from her journey.
  

                                                   

Finally Joseph found a very kind inn-keeper who told Joseph that they could stay in his stable. Mary and Joseph settled into the stable with all the animals just in time for Mary to have her baby. They wrapped baby Jesus up snugly with strips of cloth and put him into a manger with some nice warm clean straw

                                             

At that time there were some shepherds up on the hills outside Bethlehem, and they noticed a very bright light up in the sky. They were scared to start with as they didn’t know what it was, but then an Angel appeared and told them not to be frightened. The Angel told them that they should be very happy as a very special new baby had been born, who was the son of God. The shepherds decided to go to Bethlehem to see the new baby, and they took him gifts to celebrate his birth. When they saw baby Jesus they were filled with joy and they worshipped him and they told Mary and Joseph all about what the Angel had said

                                                     

Far away in the East, three wise men who studied the stars noticed a bright new light in the sky. They knew that when a new star appeared it meant that a great new ruler had been born and they wanted to meet him. The wise men decided to follow the star to see who they would find, and set out on their journey

                                                             

The bright new star led them to the stable in Bethlehem where they found the baby Jesus. They knelt down beside the manger and worshipped baby Jesus and gave him precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Mary and Joseph loved their new son and knew that they must always keep their precious baby safe from harm as he was the son of God