"I don't know how you talked me into this," Victor said. "Or how your aunt and uncle did either."

"It hasn't been that bad," Natalie replied. "Besides, I thought you liked kids."

"I don't not like them, but having to put up with three of them for an entire afternoon . . . "

"You love it."

Victor smiled. "Well, it beats having to turn invisible and fight the bad guys."

"At least they're not two."

Victor looked out the window. "But I have a strange feeling that we'll be stuck with them longer than we had intended."

"Why do you say that?" Natalie replied. She came over to the window and saw the snow falling fieriously from the sky. It was already piling up, over a foot high. "Oh, no . . . "

"Yeah, it looks like we'll be here a little longer than we thought . . . "

The phone rang, and Natalie went into the kitchen and answered it. One of Natalie's cousins came up to Victor. He was five years old, with brown hair.

"Can we play in the snow?" he asked.

Victor shook his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Gary. It's really deep. You might get lost."

"But I'm a big boy!"

"Not big enough. Look!" Victor picked the boy up and let him peer out the window.

"Wow . . . "

Natalie returned as Vic was letting Gary go. "That was my aunt. She said that they're probably going to be out for a while, but they would try to get back. There should be plenty of food for dinner."

"What about the kids?"

"What about them?"

"How do we keep them entertained?"

"Oh, I guess we could let them watch some television after dinner, and then get them to bed early. Then we could spend some quality time together . . . " Natalie replied, coming closer to Victor.

"I like that idea," Victor said as he kissed her.

"Ew!!!!!" Emily exclaimed. "You're eating lips!"

Vic pulled back and smiled sheepishly, looking away. Natalie looked down at her cousin. "Emily, I thought you were playing in your room."

"I was," the blond girl replied. "But then Gary and Andy came into my room and started messing up all my toys."

"A five year old and six year old torturing the four year old . . . I better see what's wrong," Natalie said.

"I wonder what Peter's up to . . . " Victor mumbled as he followed her out.

Victor and Natalie had gotten the kids settled down. Natalie was starting dinner while Victor was watching the kids, deciding how to keep them occupied. He spotted the family bible, and picked it up.

"Okay, kids, you want to hear a special story?"

"Yes," they chorused.

"Well, sit down on the sofa, and I'll tell it to you."

Victor opened up the bible to the gospel of Luke. "This story begins a long time ago, and tells about the very first Christmas . . . "

Mary had yet to become fourteen when she became betrothed to Joseph the carpenter. Before the two were married, a miraculous occurrence took place that was to change the direction of their lives.

Victor tried to come up with the best explanation he could think of. "When a man and a woman love each other very much, they want to get married. Today we call that engaged, but a long time ago, the people called it betrothed."

"Are you and Natalie going to get married?" Gary asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now," Vic replied, blushing. "Back to the story . . . "

"How can this be?" Mary asked. "I am still a virgin."

"Oh, great. I knew you were going to ask that . . . " Victor muttered.

"I think I can explain this," Natalie spoke up, coming from the kitchen. "A virgin is a girl who is not ready to be a mommy."

"But the angel just said that Mary would be one," Gary argued.

"Dummy," Andy said. "That's why Mary was surprised."

"Hey!" Natalie snapped. "Stop the name calling."

"Now, back to the story," Victor said.

Joseph became a tender and loving husband, comforting her through her pregnancy and watching in wonder as the child grew inside her.

"What's what?" Natalie asked.

"I thought I heard something . . . "

All five were quiet. Sure enough, there was a rustling noise outside. Victor stood up and turned on the back light.

"Oh, man," he said when he saw how high the snow was.

"There's no possible way anyone could get back," Natalie said. "It's almost up to the top of the first story!"

"The only thing we can do right now is continue the story," Victor replied, sitting back down. "Where was I? Oh, yes. Joseph was a tender husband . . . "

After the angels left, the shepherd ran into the city, looking for the stable. When they arrived, they found Mary, Joseph, and the baby. After they had seen him, they spread the word . . .

"I am going to find out what that noise is!" Victor exclaimed. "It's been right by the front door for at least a half an hour now."

"Victor, wait!" Natalie said.

Victor walked over to the door and swung it open. He saw a tunnel dug into the snow, and four people there.

"Hi," Natalie's uncle said. "We're home. And we brought a few friends!"

Victor opened the storm door. "Come on in. You must be cold!"

"The blizzard came so fast. We didn't think we could make it in time."

"That's okay," Natalie said. "We kept the kids entertained, and got dinner made. Merry Christmas."

"And God bless us, every one!" Gary exclaimed.

"Wrong story," Victor said with a smile. "But I think it'll do."

And then they had a nice dinner and lived happily ever after.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way -- a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel" -- which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

*(wise men)

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house,* they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

*(That's right, house. The Magi didn't show up until Jesus was about 2 years old. Mary and Joseph were still in Bethlehem because the census took quite a while.)

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."