Some stories, especially children's fairy tales, begin with the words, "Once Upon a Time..." Star Wars begins with, "In a galaxy far, far away..." But the story of Jesus as told by St. Luke gives us the details of the exact time & place when Jesus was born: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, during the high priesthood of Annas & Caiaphas, the word of God came to John in the desert."
The Christmas Proclamation, said or sung at the midnight Mass, goes like this: "Today, the 25th day of December, 21 centuries from the time of Abraham & Sarah, 13 centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, 1000 years from the anointing of David as King, in the 25th week according to the prophecy of Daniel, in the 194th Olympiad, the 752nd year from the foundation of the city of Rome, the forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus, Jesus Christ, 9 months having passed from his conception, was born of Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary."
Why all the details concerning the when & where of Jesus? Because God becomes part of our human history. He enters into space & time. He comes to us amidst the details of life. It is said that the "devil is in the details." But I would turn that around & say that God is in the details. Where is he to be found today? In our daily "history"...in the people we live & work with, in the place we walk or drive to, in the circumstances & experiences of each day.