Editor’s note: When Amos went shopping recently, he encountered the trials of last-minute Christmas shoppers. In frustration, he called out for the real meaning of Christmas. Just then, Sammy Salamander wiggled by and pointed him to a little Nativity scene far from the malling crowd but in the heart of Bugtussle. Jenny (the little girl mouse next door) was playing the role of Mary; Willifred the White Rat was Joseph; Freddy Flea was baby Jesus; Virgil the Praying Mantis was a shepherd; Robin Redjoy, Oliver Owl and Rawley Eagle were the Wise Men; and Louie the Songdog was a cow. Amos is a church mouse who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can’t use the shift keys and he shuns punctuation marks — except for hyphens and dashes. a christmas paradox sammy looked at me and smiled that all-knowing salamander smile and said you wanted to know about christmas — you re standing at the very heart of its mystery and miracle right now the birth of god s very own son said louie most reverently but how can that be said me after all it s plain to see that baby belongs to she and he ah that s the mystery of it all said rawley looking bigger than tall you see jesus is god s word in the flesh the son of god became the son of man robin redjoy sang divinity took the form of humanity virgil said prayerfully he became what we are so that we might become what he is oliver owl fairly screeched all right all right said i with a frown i m not deaf — but i may be now — so then the mystery of christmas is the mystery of god becoming man louie finished with a flair the mystery of jesus the godman sammy echoed in the night air as loud as a salamander dare the mystery of his being fully god yet fully man said oliver owl with a certain amount of dignification that mystery we call the incarnation but what about the miracle says i somewhat skeptically you said there was a miracle with the mystery so we did and so there is rawley replied you see alongside each of god s mysteries comes one of his miracles so what miracle are you talking about i said almost with a shout the miracle of christmas my friend is the virgin birth he said with a gentle grin virgin birth i said with a certain incredulity how can that be is this really necessary for me to believe why did it have to be this way from the manger scene came jenny s voice ever so quietly you see to enter the world god chose the weakness of a woman a picture of submission and humility and by so doing virgil added he eliminated proud mighty man from any part of the plan let me see if i have this right said i groping through the light god the creator came to his creation not in power or might but in the weakness of woman and the helplessness of a baby to risk himself in love for all of us — to love the unlovely and to die for the ungodly so that we the unlovely and the ungodly might live and love forever boss that simple tableau speaks volumes — it s a mystery and it s absolutely miraculous — may you have a merry christmas and a happy forever amos