Reflections on Christmas

The Catholic tradition is that Mary gave birth to Jesus without pain. I used to be critical of this idea. Birth was supposed to be painful, right? After all, in Genesis 3, Eve is "cursed" with brining forth children with pain. However, the Hebrew word often translated as "pain" is the same word used about Adam's tilling the earth. It would be better translated in both cases as "hard work". I must admit, after birthing Danny- birth is hard work. It makes sense to call it "labor". But it need not be painful. Thus I am willing to concede that Jesus could have been born without pain to Mary.
The tradition I have a problem with is this whole "Silent Night" thing. "The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes". Give me a break. I know he is God, but he was also man. Babies cry. That's what they do. That's how God designed them to communicate their needs to the parents. If a baby doesn't cry, or its cries are not responded to, they die. So between the baby crying, the angels singing, and a bunch of stinky shepherds showing up from the countryside, I'm willing to bet it was anything but a silent night.
But that doesn't mean that there wasn't something completely different... something profoundly special about the night of the first Christmas. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us". What greater gift could there be? God loves us so much that he sent his son- his only son- to live among us. He did not separate himself from humanity, despite all our dirty sinfulness. He came to change our lives! He came to give us life! Praise God!
Merry Christmas!