Some things about Christmas that we need to think about

Rafaello's Madonna of the Candelabra

December 25th. It seems unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25th. A most significant part of the story: that the shepherds were in the fields has, a sort of ring of truth about it (why else would you include it?) However one looks at Bethlehem's weather this week (see here) will show that night temperatures vary between -2 and 7 degrees Centigrade. Brrrrr! Why wouldn't they just brng the sheep in for the night? Either that or it was earlier in the year.
Born in a stable. One current theory suggests that the "stable"was not quite as outrageous as we might think, but that animals may well have been housed on a lower level of an open plan house. And this may have been quite common!!! The shepherds may already have been there in that case! And this might account for the popular artistic interpretations of animals just loafing around.
Mary and Joseph. Were they married? We have rather fixed ideas about when and how marriage takes place. But our marriage customs are relatively recent. The legal end is really about the proper allocation and transfer of property, people who didn't have much didn't need the formal contractual stuff. Families can recognise marriages much easier than the law can.
The Virgin Mary you don't have to be a genius to realise that there are powerful vested interests involved in keeping Mary a virgin. The fact that the Hebrew scriptures don't sustain the meaning "virgin" in the way we understand it but rather lean towards "young girl" as a proper translation is constantly overlooked by these interests.
Does it matter? To my mind it is of little importance. But for some everything seems to hinge on this.
Those of us who have had children know how "The Holy Spirit overshadows...." the mother when she conceives the unique child of God...I have three such unique children. It seems to have nothing to do with whether or not one is a virgin!
The Son of God. Was Jesus God's only son? This is not essentially a scientific question (ie. we are not so much interested in how "The great God of heaven" could inseminate a woman) but a faith question (what are we saying about God and humanity when we see Jesus as God's Son).....for me a person of faith it is the most exciting development in human history. It transforms life and enables us to be fully human. But it is a mysterium fidei....a mystery of faith