It was a December evening in Quincy Oregon and for some reason, the sky was clear.
12-year-old Emmi Lahti had just finished feeding her rabbits, their pig and her dads, two new calves. She washed the feeding pails and carefully put them and the powdered colostrum container away.
Emmi walked outside and looked up at the sky.
"WOW!" She exclaimed and ran to the house.
"Mama, äiti. Look at the Sky " 
Her mother, Annie Lahti, poked her head out the kitchen door. "Hey rakas, what do you see?"
Emmi pointed up at the sky: "That star, look at how big it is."
Annie looked up and smiled. "It must be the cold air, I think it's probably the planet Venus or possibly Jupiter..."
"This is the month of Jesus's birthday," interjected Emmi. "Do you think that this was the star that the Wisemen followed?"
Annie smiled and put her arm around her daughter. "I don't think so. I think that what ever it was that the wisemen got to see, was something special and unique."
Annie opened the kitchen door and walked with Emmi into the warm kitchen.
"Get cleaned up, dinners ready"
Annie's father, Sulo, was in the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee. "Tell me rakas, how did the red calf look to you."
Emmi smiled as she walked out of the kitchen toward the bathroom. "He looked really good, and he seems to have a big appitite. I think that the colostrum was just what he needed to get a good start."
Sulo winked at Annie. "She's a smart girl and really good with the animals."
Annie shook her head. "We better enjoy her while she's still with us. Emmi is quickly maturing."
A few minutes later the entire family sat down for dinner. Sulo said grace and they started to eat.
Emmi looked up from her plate: "What was the star that the Wisemen saw?"
Annie shook her head. "I don't know what the star was. The only place in the Bible that mentions it is Matthew 2:2 verses 7-10.  Some people say it was a meteor, or a comet. Other people seem to think it was a supernova, or just an alignment of several planets. I think that it was more than just that. I don't see any reason why it couldn't have been a special manisfistation from God. After all,  I don't know of any star that could move along and guide people, or hover over a stable.
I recall talking to Sulo's friend Harry. He used to be a School Superintendent and is probably the smartest person that we all know. Harry theorized that the Wisemen or Magi were learned Rabbi's from Alexandria where they had a great library. They studied the stars and they saw a very extraordinary event. Something that could not be explained by conventional science."
Sulo picked up a bible and said: "Let me read to you from the Book of Matthew."
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, --this was during Herod's kingship--a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. 
They asked around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."
When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified--and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well.
Herod lost no time. He gathered the high priests and religious scholars in the city together and asked, "Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?"
They told him, "Bethlehem, The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land, no longer bringing up the rear. From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel."
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the Wisemen from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared.
Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, "Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I'll join you at once in your worship."
Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child.
They were filled with joy. They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
They entered the house and saw the child, in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and took out their gifts of gold, incense from the land of the Franks, aromatic resin from the Myrrh tree and gave these valuable things to him.
Emmi looked at her father. "Stars don't move do they? I think mom's right when she said that it was something special."
Sulo nodded. "It was indeed something special. Something to think about when we Lutherns, light the advent candles on Sunday. It's a special time commerating, a special birth and certainly a special reason for us all to celebrate.
We pray for everyone to have a happy advent and a wonderful Christmas season.