Immanuel, "God with us"

Christmas is upon us once again.  You'd be hard pressed to find an American who hasn't heard of Christmas.  Most of those same people know that the holiday is somehow connected to a child, a manger, some angels, maybe something about a star.  In other words, we all seem to know a little bit about Christmas.  But do we know about why this particular child's birth has been remembered for over 2,000 years?  It was certainly worth noting that Jesus was born of a virgin, that doesn't happen every day does it?  But more importantly, Jesus was Immanuel, which means "God with us".  Jesus is the incarnation (God taking on humanity) of God.  In this case, he is literally, God with us.  When the world was created, God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  There was nothing between God and his creation.  After the sin of Adam and Eve (the Fall), an unbridgable gap opened up between God's perfection and our fallen state.  We had no way to come to God, and he couldn't be with us any longer.  Perfection and imperfection don't mix.  With the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the finale of the process of God's redemption of humanity was set in motion.  As God, Jesus could achieve the perfection that we cannot.  As a man, Jesus could stand in our place before God and receive our punishment.  The baby in the manager 2,000 years ago made it possible for us to be reunited with God by dying on a cross thirty years later and rising from the dead.  He is indeed, God with us. 
Merry Christmas.