Thoughts About Christmas Stories

We've all heard the song about the twelve gifts given by "my true love," in the days leading up to Christmas.  I love my wife and daughter...they are my true loves, and I can think of no better Christmas gift than to pass on to them a love for the Christmas stories, told in short, memorable segments, full of Biblical detail, integrity, and wonder.  Did I mention songs?  With three songs included in the Bible's stories of Christmas (Zacharias, Mary, and a host of angels), songs are definitely a big part of telling the Christmas stories.  The Christmas story as a whole is, I believe, best understood by learning to stand in awe of the Messiah who is the heart and soul of the stories (and there are well over a dozen) of which it is comprised.  This year, my goal is to learn to retell about a dozen Christmas stories leading up to Christmas, and one afterwards.  In learning to retell a story, the first step is to read the passage aloud in multiple versions or translations of the Bible, and then I do it again.  The goal is to learn all of the Biblical detail, without memorizing any translation verbatim, and to learn that Biblical detail with a wider vocabulary and grammatical flexibility.  For those of you who are bilingual, you'll want to include translations in other languages to the Bible translations that you read.  Here you'll get to read the ESV, NASB, KJV, NIV, GNT, ICB, THE CHILDREN'S NEW TESTAMENT (which has no acronym), and more.  I've never read from the ICB or THE CHILDREN'S NEW TESTAMENT before now, so it's kind of like an unboxing for me.  As I'm reading many different translations/versions, I may share observations about any contrasts I see.  For example, the first passage I've ever read in the ICB stands in contrast to most translations; Gabriel said that Zecharias would not be able to speak until the day these things happen, but the ICB has Gabriel merely state that Zecharias would lose his speech.  I am likely to replace the ICB with another version that I haven't read before, like maybe The Message.  Notice that my list of translations/versions starts with four that are generally regarded as being accurate, with varying qualities.  I'm not afraid to read a few versions that aren't regarded as being as true to the original source; where they differ, I trust versions like the ESV and NASB more, and Bibles like The Message and The Children's New Testament less.  Workers who were teaching English to college students in Cambodia introduced me to the GNT.  It has been one of my pocket-sized Bibles ever since, and the biggest difference that I can see is that it uses simpler English.  The time to read a new translation/version is while also reading multiple others that are known for accuracy, and are trusted by scholars.  With globalization and the spread of English, there are huge populations that speak English as a second (or third, etc.) language.  For these populations, I need to be learning God's Word in colloquial English that they can understand.