Happy Christmas, all!

"Mary."

"Mmmf. I told you already, the ketchup is in plain sight," she remarked drowsily, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Mary."

"Whaddya-- AHHH!!"

She suddenly realized that a male voice was talking to her. Needless to say, this awakened her thoroughly, provoking the scream.

A tall, imposing man in white was standing next to her bed, looking at her.

"Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

She suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh... my... wow... AHH!!"

She muffled her shriek, staring at the angel with wide eyes.

"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"I—uh—no way."

Mary blinked.

"There is no way this is happening. I'm not – wait! I'm not having a – a – baby!! I've never, ah, you know. Joseph and I made a pledge not to--"

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered, trembling in awe of the message. "May it be to me as you have said."

She dropped her head and wrung her hands.

"The Son of God. Oh my. This is... wow. How am I going to tell Joseph?"

The angel didn't answer, and she looked up to find him gone.

The next morning, Mary woke up to the blaring of her alarm. She groaned and slapped wildly around the sidetable until she hit the snooze button miraculously. She was about to doze off for a few minutes when she remembered the dream. She was suddenly wide awake. Sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face she tried to remember exactly what had happened. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." The voice came crystal clear into her mind.

"Aunt Beth? No..."

She got out of bed and dressed hurriedly, stopping a moment to put her hands on her stomach before shaking her head.

"It's just a dream. It has to be," she told herself sensibly, looking at her weary refection in the mirror.

"Just a dream."

Still, something nagged at her. It would be so easy to go see if Aunt Beth was pregnant. The thought of it made her giggle. Aunt Beth was fifty and had been declared by doctors years ago unable to have children. There was no way she was pregnant. Still, Mary hadn't heard from her in a while and it would be nice to go visit. She only lived an hour away and Mary didn't have to work today.

"Yes, I'll go visit her. Just to see," Mary said, tying her hair back and grabbing her purse.

"Just to see."