The innkeeper who turned away Mary, Joseph, and soon-to-be-born Jesus because his inn was full, always seems to be considered the bad guy in the original Christmas Story. It's almost as though the audience is ready to "boo" if this guy were on stage ... or maybe he would wear a black hat if he were in a Western.

But the truth is, what else was he supposed to do? Should he have chosen another guest at random and kicked them out? That certainly would not have made him a better reputation!

Have we ever thought about what his true intentions might have been? Or what else he might have done? Was he so bad that we haven't liked him for two thousand years?

And what about all that time Mary, Joseph, and Jesus spent before and after they went to, and returned from Egypt? Where did they live all that time? And where did they live while Joseph was running his carpentry business and until Jesus traveled with his parents to Jerusalem where he confounded the priests and theologians there?

These are questions to be answered... even if it's only in our imaginations. This book seeks to fill in those times and give a deeper insight into what the innkeeper might have really been like... and things he might have done.

The man most vilified in the original Christmas story has been this man ... and now the stage is set to give what may be a very different view!