Micah 5:2 — But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

I’m writing this piece a bit after nine o’clock in the evening of Christmas Eve. It’s a bit late because we went to the Christmas Eve service, and then I changed the direction I thought I was going to go. I was struck by the thought that Christmas should be wonderful and magical for every child … And it often isn’t.
Not all my Christmases have been great. In fact some of them have been miserable. Looking back I realize that the problem has usually been with my expectations … or really the lack of expectations.
Is your family like ours — do you keep Christmas gifts secret? Do believe children — at least the young ones — should be allowed to believe in Santa Claus? Maybe we need to think about that … and make sure we manage their expectations carefully.
“So,”, I hear you ask. “did you just become Scrooge?” Not really … but I realized that God was very clear in setting expectations for the first Christmas. Consider these promises (just a few among many):

God promised in Genesis 1:23 that Jesus would come from the line of Abraham, and Matthew 1:1 records the fulfillment of the promise.
Matthew 1:2 confirms that Jesus was a descendant of Isaac (as promised in Genesis 17:19) and Jacob (as promised in Numbers 24:17)
Genesis 49:10 promised that Jesus would be from the tribe of Judah and in Luke 3:23-33 we can see His genealogy confirming the lineage.
In Matthew 1:18-23 God told of the virginity of Jesus’ mother, confirming His promise in Isaiah 7:14.
God promised through Micah, as in my header verse, that Jesus would be born in the town of Bethlehem and the beautiful telling of the story in Luke 2:1–7 tells us that he was.
In Hosea 11:1, God promised to call His son out of Egypt. In Matthew 2:13–15 we can read on an angel causing Joseph to take the boy to Egypt, and the families subsequent return.

It goes on and on. By some estimates Jesus fulfilled more than three hundred promises — and for me that is the real magic of Christmas. And that’s the challenge. Let’s let children know just what to expect at Christmas — and make the fulfillment more magical than the anticipation!