I was bound and determined to get this winter newsletter out by Christmas. I had everything ready except for my “Growing Up Catholic” blog. But I had one of those moments when I stared at the screen, and nothing happened. I went for a walk—nothing happened. I tried afternoon meditation—big mistake. I cleared my mind for 1.5 seconds, and then it was like a free-for-all in thought processes. All sorts of crap flooded in, telling me to do something else: pay bills, check my social media posts to find out if someone had read my latest musing, sweep off the deck, rearrange my shoes by color, which could take all day. And then everywhere I looked, I saw dust, which annoys the hell out of me.

My initial idea was to write about my favorite childhood Christmas memories. Been there, done that. A few weeks ago, a friend sent me one of those dog nativity scene photos. So I decided to write about Christmas from a dog’s point-of-view. I got as far as bringing a live tree into the house and how practical it was in a male dog’s world, not having to go outside to pee. Really? I had to slap myself over that one. My mind was like a pinball, rolling from one brilliant idea to another, only to land in the drain.

Next, my take on the Christian Christmas story. You know, the one where the Holy Family fled to Egypt, where Jesus was born in a lowly manger? I always wondered about the story behind the story. Then I started thinking about the women in Jesus’s life. I wondered what they were really like. And then, and then, and then. Most of the time, being a writer is fun. Sometimes it’s maddening.

So I went with the Christmas story AND the women.

The themes in both my mystery series are strong women trying to make it in a man’s world. But imagine how it was for women who lived two thousand years ago, like Jesus’s mother, Mary, and his friend Mary Magdalen. The nuns at St. Mary’s School taught us that Mary was a timid, quiet, innocent girl, and that’s why she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. And that Mary Magdalen was a prostitute until she repented. But then, maybe not. Look what they had to deal with. Mary Magdalen was the one who discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead, and when she went to the apostles with the good news, they didn’t believe her. They probably thought she was up to her old tricks, just out for attention. And Mary, the Mother of Jesus, imagine what she went through, an unwed teenager discovering she was pregnant despite never having had sex. What did prostitutes and unwed mothers have to deal with back then? Death by stoning.

But not these two women. Mary Magdalen stood her ground. And Mother Mary was having none of that stoning crap. I can just hear her saying, “Listen, you idiots. I’m carrying the child that will save the world, so put down those damn rocks, or you’ll never see the light of day. And then, when fiancé Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant with someone else’s child, he turned his back on her. But Mary didn’t fret. She called up an angel, a female angel, and sent her after Joseph to give him the what-for.

So Mary and Joseph got married and prepared for the birth of her first child, only to learn that things weren’t going well in Jerusalem. A narcissistic, psychopathic king named Herod heard that a baby boy, who would take over Herod’s kingdom, was about to be born. So Herod decided to murder all male boys two years old and under. To save her unborn child from slaying, they fled. The baby was born in a manger in Bethlehem, and they continued on to Egypt.

At this point, I researched (Googled) their journey, and this is what I found:

After the birth of Jesus, the Holy Family traveled through northern Sinai until they reached Farama. Then on to Tel Basta, Mostrod. This is where Mary stopped to bathe her baby and wash his diapers. Then on the road again to Belbeis, they crossed the Nile to Samanoud, west to Natroum, and eventually to Cairo, where Mary did more laundry, after which she poured out the water, and a Balsam tree instantly grew. Word got out about this miracle and that maybe her baby was this boy destined to become king of the Jews, so they fled to Old Cairo and hid in a cave. When the coast cleared, they set out to Al-Maadi, boarded a sailboat, and headed south. Then on to Minya and back across the Nile to the east. Finally, they settled there for six months. When they heard Herod was dead, they retraced their steps and headed home. It was a harrowing three-year journey, so I ask you, could a wimpy, shy, quiet, innocent girl have handled all this?

No, Mary was one tough cookie.

P.S. I couldn’t resist adding the dog photo. Puppy Jesus is so cute.