As tradition goes, at least in the movies, and often times in our Christmas Pageants, Joseph and Mary came into Bethlehem on Christmas night, hurriedly dragging a donkey with Mary riding while enduring contractions. Upon arrival, Joseph frantically goes from inn to inn in the great metropolis of Bethlehem knocking on doors only to get turned away again and again. And, at the last possible moment, a little old lady directs them to a stable because there's no room in any of the inns. Fun story, but merely a fun tradition.
It's more likely that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem with plenty of time to get there before the baby was born, probably weeks or even months ahead of time. Remember that this is where Joseph's family was from, otherwise he would not have gone there in response to the decree of Caesar. I'm going back to Indiana tomorrow, where I'm from, and will stay with my family, not in an inn. At least the scallywags had better not send me to an inn.
Because there were lots of out-of-town family members showing up for the census, there was no room in the κατάλυμα by the time Joseph and Mary arrived. A κατάλυμα, for Luke, was most likely the guest room in the relative's house, not an inn. As a matter of fact, without hesitation we translate κατάλυμα as it is used in Luke 22:11 as a guest room meaning a part of the house.
So, Joseph and Mary likely stayed in the common room of a house (in lieu of the occupied guest room) with several people, where animals were sometimes brought in out of the cold, where there happened to be a manger, where Jesus was born.
I really enjoy getting to the details of biblical stories. There was probably no inn in the little town of Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary probably didn't even go to the stables. And Jesus was probably born in the common room of a relative's house and placed in a manger.
Here's the nativity scene in my house as I write. Yes . . . I know . . . the exegetes among you will want to critique additional details in this scene.
Merry Christmas!
