Christmas expectations

I've been thinking a lot about expectations this week. I expected to be celebrating Christmas in Mexico with my husband and family this year with all the excitement and chaos only a Mexican Christmas can bring - the pinata, the tamales, staying up ALL night Christmas Eve :) . . . but he ended up going alone. So I adjusted my expectations - a quiet Christmas with my parents . . . but we've had the stomach virus all week. As I sat up with Charlie last night, enduring another long night of changing clothes, changing sheets, holding pans, knowing why God did not call me to be a nurse . . . I thought of Mary that first Christmas - I'm sure she did not expect it to be that way - having baby Jesus in Bethlehem rather than with her family in Nazareth, in a stable rather than her home, not like she had expected. Messiah coming as a baby rather than a conquering king. Not like they expected. My expectations for Christmas pale in comparison.