The First Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the land

All the people were scurrying to keep Caesar’s command

To return to their hometowns to be counted and taxed.

If they failed to obey they would surely be axed!

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the town,

Folks were tucking in children and settling themselves down

For a long winter’s night, which was not going to be

At the Bethlehem Inn, as we shortly shall see.

The innkeeper and his wife had just crawled into bed

With the young ones around them–to the world they were “dead.”

When at the inn door there commenced such a pounding,

He sprang from his bed to see who now was hounding.

The moon was so bright. (No, wait – was that starlight?)

He slid back the latch and peered into the night.

There stood a man with his wife clearly pregnant

“Can you give us a room?” He replied, “No, I can’t.”

“This inn is all full! Go find someplace else!”

“Please, sir,” begged the man, “My wife is not well.

Her time is so near…We’ve been all through the town—

Every cranny and nook. There’s no room to be found!”

Well this innkeeper, he was a kind sort of fellow,

Recalling the hard times his own wife had gone through.

“There’s a stable out back you can use in a pinch.”

But for room in the inn, he could not find an inch.

Now these people, they weren’t just an ordinary couple,

This Joe and his Mary were something quite special.

The Baby she carried was not Joseph’s child,

But from God Himself – isn’t that just wild?

God’s Spirit overshadowed her before they were wed,

Just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

So the Child she conceived was God’s holy Son—

A miracle beyond our human comprehension.

So out to the stable they crept through the dark;

For a birthing room, it was a little too stark.

She delivered Him safely, thank the Father in heaven.

The greatest Gift of all time at last had been given!

When the night before Christmas rolls ‘round once again,

As we hustle and bustle fitting everything in,

Let’s pause to think of that first Christmas night,

And remember whose birthday we should keep in sight.

Elizabeth and her husband Dave serve in Binghamton, NY