From our family to yours, Merry Christmas. May each of you be embraced by the joy of this season, the blessedness of the Savior’s birth, and the love of family and friends this Christmas.

For over a decade while serving as an American diplomat, our family was privileged to spend each Christmas season in Bethlehem with the Palestinian Christian community. As we know, during the time of Herod, Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem. When they arrived in this small West Bank village, there was no room for the family at the local inn. And so, Jesus was born in a simple stable. On that very place, now sits the Church of the Nativity - one of the holiest sites in all of Christianity.

These days, Christmas at the Church of the Nativity on Bethlehem's Manager’s Square is captivating and enchanting. Local food vendors, children’s choirs, pilgrims from around the world, and Christianity’s many faces and languages blend together to remind us of a sacred birth more than 2,000 years ago. Just today, I received warm Christmas greetings from the former mayor of this special town. She reminds us that the very essence of “joy and mercy is the spirit of our town, Bethlehem”.

The world is complicated - and clearly our politics and the COVID pandemic make our daily challenges even more difficult. But the meaning of Christmas still provides strength and light for all of us this season.

Merry Christmas!

Dave, Sharon, and our entire family