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Of the twelve voices of Christmas, you will hear none more astonished than mine. What happened to others leading up to that first Christmas may have been miraculous, but what happened to me was completely unique.

I am Mary. It began with the wonder of the angel. My father was in the field and my mother had gone to market. I was mending clothes, and I admit, I was daydreaming about Joseph, the man I had been betrothed to marry. Suddenly I was startled. I looked to the doorway and there stood a stranger. I thought he must be seeking my father. I would have told him to go, but he stepped through the door and spoke to me. "Hail, woman, richly blessed. The Lord is with you." Who was this? What did he want? He didn't seem dangerous in a threatening way, but neither did he seem altogether safe. He was quite different.

Then I realized this was an angel. But what did he mean by calling me a highly favored one? My family was not special. We were poor humble people. We lived in Nazareth, not Jerusalem. Everyone from Nazareth was considered to be, well, something of a hick. The angel didn't leave me time to think. He continued, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus." The angel then foretold that this son would be the Son of the Most High, and that God would give Him the throne of King David and that He would be an eternal King, reigning forever.

Were all the old prophecies coming true at once? I had often heard the Scriptures read in the synagogue, and many times I had listened as my father talked with other men in the village about the coming Son of David. One time a traveling rabbi had taught in the synagogue all the promises of Messiah. Our family did trace its ancestry to David. Could I be living in the time when these things would come to pass? But how could any son of mine ever reign on the throne of David? The throne of David descended through the line of Solomon, while my family tree goes back to David through his son Nathan, who was never king of Israel. So if my son were to sit on David's throne, that right would legally have to come through another family.

Then I thought of Joseph, the man to whom I was to be married. He was a descendant to David through Solomon. Would he be the father? But what the angel said didn't make me think this baby was coming from Joseph. So I asked, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" I think Gabriel almost smiled. I wondered about that later. I finally came to believe that he was amused that I would have a problem with such a small detail. You don't think this is funny? My father used to laugh at a story about the man who met God on the road from Jericho. God told him that He would give his horse wings to fly and turn all the flour in his cart to gold, but the man refused, saying, "My wife could never bake bread from gold."

Here I had been told that God was going to break into history and set up a King on the throne of David who would be His very Son and rule forever. Surely the greatest marvel of all time! All I could do is wonder how I could get pregnant. But even that detail was a wonder beyond understanding. The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come over me in such a way that the power of God would encompass, embrace, enclose me, and in the shadow of His over-arching Shekinah glory, I would become pregnant. What a wonder!

Certainly the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age had been miraculous, and the birth of John to Zacharias and my cousin Elisabeth was miraculous. But the birth of my baby was more than miraculous. It was also unique. He would be born in my virginity. He would be conceived without a human father. He would be human and divine. He would be the Son of God and the Son of a humble Nazarene girl. I told the angel, "Be it done to me according to your word."

You know the rest of my story. Everything Gabriel announced to me came true. I eventually did marry Joseph, but the marriage was not consummated until after Jesus was born. Even that first Christmas night while I was cuddling my newborn baby in my arms, I raised my voice in wonder. There in the stable we received a visit from some shepherds. They, too, had encountered an angel; in fact, a whole host of them. They were there to see my baby. When they left the stable, they were glorifying God and praising Him for all they had seen and heard. They couldn't keep quiet. They told everyone that the Son of God had come, that the Messiah had arrived, that there was a Savior.

I, on the other hand, was less demonstrative. Others were shouting and praising God for this Christmas night, but I kept all these things and pondered them in my heart and wondered.

Yes, I remember that first Christmas perhaps better than anyone. I was so young and filled with wonder beyond my depth. But with each passing year, the wonder deepened still more. My song shall always be, "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has regarded the humble state of His handmaiden." What a wonder!