A long time ago, a king wanted to know how many people lived in his kingdom. So he told everyone to go to the place where they were born and they were counted there.

A man called Joseph took his wife, Mary, with him. They went to Joseph's town called Bethlehem. Mary was just about to have a baby.

Just outside Bethlehem, in the fields, there were some shepherds looking after their sheep. A shining messenger from God came to them. They were very frightened, but the messenger from God said,

Suddenly lots and lots of shining messengers from God came and joined the first messenger and they all said,

After they said this, all the messengers went away, back to God. The shepherds said to one-another,

They went straight away and found the baby in the animal's feeding trough, with his parents in Bethlehem- just like God said. Then they went away thanking God and telling everyone what they were told and what they saw- and everyone was amazed.