As children we remember the anticipation that led up to Christmas. In many ways it filled us with hope as we wished for that new toy, waited for school to be out, and expected the first snow. That same dynamic is what made the first Christmas so extraordinary. For generations, men and women had been waiting anxiously for the birth of their Messiah, with no assurance that they would live to see him. And like us, they probably wondered if it would ever arrive. As adults we still experience similar expectations uncertainties. We wonder if God even knows we exist. A closer look at the Christmas story and the stories surrounding it can make this Christmas a season of hope.