All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Matthew 1:22-24 NIV
Jesus’ Birth
Christmas tree production in Canada is a profitable enterprise, the value of freshly cut Christmas trees an estimated $65 million annually (domestic and foreign sales). About 2.4 million trees were exported in 2021, primarily to the United States. All provinces export Christmas trees, except Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The province of Québec exports the highest number of Christmas trees to the United States. Today, the most popular Christmas trees are balsam fir and Fraser fir. Other species include Scots pine and white spruce, white pine and blue spruce.
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It’s Christmas Eve, one of the most important and beloved days of the year. Families across the country will gather together, Christians will go to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and children will go to bed excited, few sleeping well, dreaming of all that awaits the next morning. This shouldn’t surprise us. The first Christmas was a time of celebration and mystery. The shepherds were shocked by the appearance of angels, rushing off to meet the One of whom the angels spoke. As with all new parents, Mary and Joseph’s world was rocked and changed forever with the arrival of this child. Little did they know that the entire world would be measured by before and after this baby’s birth. No wonder the disciple wrote this in Matthew 1:22-24: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley