The Norm Nativity | Journey to Bethlehem

by delacybrown on December 12, 2013

In the last instalment of The Norm Nativity, we left Mary Norm just as she had learnt the startling news, from her visitor Angel Gabriel Norm, that she was due to give birth to a son called Jesus Norm. The visit from a flying angel would have been startling enough, but the news that Mary was somehow inexplicably become pregnant despite being an untouched virgin was enough to make the hardest of souls go soft in the head. But not Mary Norm. Strengthened with the affirmation that the baby Norm she was carrying would one day be a saviour of the world, she was determined to do this properly. And so, having told her then boyfriend, now hubby Joseph Norm the rather stunning news (and having finally got over the months of arguments when he accused her of having an affair – it was inevitable I suppose), Mary Norm and Joseph Norm set out on their old little donkey, Nancy, and made their way to Bethlehem, the city of Joseph’s birth and thus where they were required to register the oncoming birth of their child.

As Luke more eloquently tells us…

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

Luke 2:1-5

Journey to Bethlehem (2013 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen and gold paint on paper)

So over hostile terrain they travelled for days, their worldly possessions, and the heavily pregnant Mary Norm pilled upon poor Nancy’s back, trekking across dessert and wide open plains until finally they could see the little town of Bethlehem glittering like a mirage in the distance. But their relief was short lived, for no sooner had they made out the outline of the city than they had caught sight of various road-side advertising posts advertising hotels and inns – yet all of these adverts bore the ominous news that all of the accommodation was booked up! (Well, it was Christmas I suppose…) What would Mary Norm and Joseph Norm do? Find out… next time!