Every year, we sit around our over-ornamented trees, read the Christmas story (usually from Luke 2), and talk about Jesus and Mary and Joseph. But what about the others? What about the shepherds and the wise men, Simeon and Anna, and Herod? What’s the deal with those characters? And what can they teach us about Jesus?

As we slow down, engage our imaginations, and enter into the stories of some of these women and men, you'll see the most important character—Jesus Christ—with new eyes.