A small remnant of Palestinian Christians call Bethlehem home. They are a nod to the heritage that believers have in the birthplace of the Savior, a place that barely resembles the stable we put on the mantle every year.

But the city grants a slight throwback here and there, just to let you know it remembers.

It sprawls its plain-colored, square-shaped houses across dusty, rolling hills. The buildings look biblical-period-esque from a distance, but they hold webcasting businesses and fiber-optic Christmas tree stores.

Shepherds herd sheep in the medians of major highways. A donkey stands tied in the street next to a metropolitan university with techie students and coffee shops.

Hundreds of people daily are bused in and file through the Church of the Nativity, built about 300 years after Jesus Christ’s birth on the spot believed to be the stable. In a room below the church’s altar, they kneel and kiss the spot ornately decorated in remembrance.

But to the believers here, like Ramzi, all the pomp pales in comparison to the true relationship they have with the One who shares their birthplace.

They light up when they talk about Jesus, who was born just down the street but who, more importantly, changed their lives forever.