It may be startling to consider, but the real miracle of Christmas does not center around the actual birth of Jesus. The birth process itself was perfectly natural, a normal delivery like so many others. The surroundings and circumstances were, of course, touching and instructive, but there was noting unusual in the birth itself.

What was miraculous, however, is found in the wondrous fact that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a 15-year old virgin Jewess: