Nativity Season Resources for Families

The Nativity Fast – and the glorious Feast of the Nativity of our Lord – is approaching. Now is the time to make a plan to prepare your own heart, and the hearts of each member of our family, to welcome Our Lord at His Nativity. In the modern world, often there is much hustle and bustle associated with “The Christmas Season.” If you have a plan in place before Nativity Lent even begins, you will have the opportunity to decide what is your family’s priority, and which things do not have to happen.

Before this Nativity season even begins, make your plan. Consider watching each of the 6 short video clips found in the Center for Family Care’s “Potholes On the Way to Bethlehem” series. The series offers a handful of questions related to each video clip, that parents can discuss together – and with other parents, if possible. The series can help you focus on what is truly important during the Nativity season. Find the free series here: https://orthodoxmarketplace.com/potholes-on-the-way-to-bethlehem-navigating-the-stress-of-the-nativity-season-a-small-group-guide/.

Throughout the Nativity Fast, look for opportunities to be still together as a family, so that the importance of our Lord’s coming is not drowned out by the cacophony of activity. Here are some suggestions of choices that your family can make toward the end of stillness and focus. These are shared in no particular order:

1. Study the Nativity icon together. There’s a young-child focused lesson about this icon, complete with simplified explanations, at https://orthodoxpebbles.com/a-nativity-lesson/. Older children and adults will benefit from the more in-depth explanation of the icon, such as the one found here https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/the-nativity-icon/  or here: https://antiochianprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/websiteattachments/Nativity%20Icon%20-%20FR%20Kfouf.pdf. After your initial study, return to the icon weekly (or even daily). Be still before it and think about what is happening as Christ becomes incarnate in our midst. Each time you see it, it will mean more to you because you have spent time with it.
2. Set aside quiet moments to be still together and create beautiful things. Slowing down enough to create can be very helpful to family members who have a love for/need to create. (That said, if creating/crafting stresses your whole family, then do not do it!)

• Utilize one (or more) of the black and white printable icons for that nativity season available here, in creations of your own (How about making them into stained glass windows? Cards? Framed art? Or print miniature versions and make Christmas ornaments with them?) http://orthodoxeducation.blogspot.com/2011/12/orthodox-christmas-coloring-pages.html. On that site, you will also find interesting notes that your family can discuss as you look at or color these line art icons. 
• Work together to create some framed Nativity icon ornaments. These would make great gifts for Church school teachers, friends, godparents, etc.: http://orthodoxeducation.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-orthodox-craft-ornaments.html. 
• These paper Nativity scenes are fun for children to assemble, and play with, as well: https://madebyjoel.com/2013/12/travel-size-paper-city-nativity-scene.html

Paper City Nativity Scene (Joyfully Expanded!)

• Younger children may enjoy creating this Nativity-themed “stained glass” decoration: https://meaningfulmama.com/stained-glass-nativity-craft-for-kids.html 
• Older children and adults may prefer to create a beautiful decoration with card stock and a craft knife/scissors, using this free pattern: https://liagriffith.com/papercut-nativity-scene-freebie/ 

3. Have a daily Nativity reading/discussion time together. There are multiple options for this, including:

• Color your way through your Nativity Fast with this book: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Your-Through-Nativity-Fast/dp/1698389531 
• Read through a “Jesse Tree” project, such as this version created by two Orthodox moms. It compiles 40 scripture readings (including sketches to go with each), to help families prepare for the Nativity. https://orthodoxjessetree.wordpress.com/about/ 
• Walk through the Old Testament, and into the New, in this book, which contains a short reading for each day of the Nativity Fast. Many families find it comforting to read through this book every Nativity Lent, thus preparing their hearts for Christ’s coming: https://sebastianpress.org/elissa-bjeletich-welcoming-the-christ-child-book-only/. The book is also available with a daily ornament that can be hung on a bannister, tree, or as part of a wall display: https://sebastianpress.org/welcoming-the-christ-child-book-ornament-gift-set/ 
• If you have older children, take in this series of weekly studies, to keep your focus on Christ throughout the Nativity Fast: https://stgeorgegreenville.org/our-faith/advent 

4. If there are young children and/or visual learners in your family, consider finding a physical way to keep track of the Nativity Fast. Having a concrete way to track each day of the fasting period makes it more real for such individuals, helping them to better understand where they are in the season. There are many ways to do this. 

• One option is this beautiful pocket calendar: https://www.etsy.com/listing/720770322/40-day-advent-calendar-sew-it-yourself (This calendar comes with a star that can be moved from pocket to pocket as the days pass. However, the pockets can also hold the Welcoming the Christ Child ornaments listed above, or these countdown cards: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1311227825/40-day-advent-countdown-cards )
• Another option is a spiral candle holder such as one of these. Move a candle along the spiral, one step closer to the center, each day during a family prayer and/or study time, with this one: https://www.treasuresfromjennifer.com/products/wooden-spiral-candle-holder-for-birthdays-advent-and-lent-waldorf-birthday-ring; or move a candle as well as a wooden silhouette of Mary on a donkey along the trail towards the middle “Bethlehem” with this one: https://thekeepingcompany.com/products/cradle-to-cross-wreath-cherry  (This version of the spiral calendar also comes with a silhouette of Christ and the Cross, so that you can use it again to mark the days during Great Lent.)

5. There are so many wonderful services added to the Church calendar during the Nativity Fast. Regardless of whether or not you do any of the other above-suggested ideas for stillness and focus, be sure to attend as many services as you are able. Just before the Feast of the Nativity, try to be part of the beautiful Royal Hours service. This service calms and prepares the hearts of all who attend it, focusing them on what is about to take place. Children may enjoy marking the passage of each “hour” of this service with this page: http://manymercies.blogspot.com/2021/12/royal-hours-of-nativity-coloring-page.html 

When the Feast of the Nativity arrives, celebrate it together with much joy! Since our Orthodox celebration of the Nativity extends for 12 days, do not stop celebrating when Christmas day passes. Rather, find ways to continue the celebration, in order to properly observe the Feast. If your family does not yet have any “12 days of Christmas” traditions, you may wish to consider the variety of ideas found in Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas: A Family Devotional in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, by AmandaEve Wigglesworth. This book offers celebratory suggestions each day, paired with a short devotional for your family to read and discuss together. Each meditation contains information about the feast or saint being commemorated that day; a related kontakion or troparion; and a short explanation of the Christian meanings behind both the number of that day of Christmas and the gift offered (in the “12 Days of Christmas” song) on that day. Each day there is also a suggested related activity to do together as a family. Activities vary from Christmas caroling to making thank-you cards to crafts (ie: making a St. Genevieve’s luminaria and coloring a “stained glass” icon) to baking vasilopita (recipe included) to cleaning your house together in preparation for your house blessing. This book can be an excellent resource for one year’s celebration of the “12 Days”, or it could become the guide for your family’s annual “12 day” traditions. Find more information about the book, including sample pages, here: https://store.ancientfaith.com/celebrating-the-twelve-days-of-christmas/ 

Taking a little time now, before the Nativity Fast even begins, to organize your thoughts, plans, and schedule can really help the whole season to be filled with peace. You know your family best and what they need. So, your plan may include some of the above suggestions, or it may not! Regardless, having and implementing a plan that works for your family can help all of you to focus on the reason for this beautiful season. What joy will fill your hearts as you take twelve days to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord, when those hearts have been stilled and focused on His coming throughout the weeks leading up to His birth. 

May you and your family have a blessed Nativity Fast, as you prepare for the incarnation of Our Lord!

Philo, Shifo, and the Love Superholy by Mireille Mishriky, illustrated by Violette Palumbo

Christmas vacation is usually long, glorious, and full of fun… But what if you are assigned to keep a daily journal for school? And what on earth do you do if your annoying younger cousin and his parents come over to stay at your house for days? How many things can he mess up before your vacation is completely ruined?

Fans of Philo and the Superholies will be glad to know that Mireille Mishriky has added another story to the collection, this time introducing the Love Superholy, whose presence and help is especially needed when troublesome family members are around…

Philo allows the readers of his story to read his homework for Christmas vacation (the daily journal), and to hear his inner thoughts as he encounters one struggle after another, all related to his pesky little cousin. How can anyone celebrate the birth of Christ in the midst of all this chaos? Who can help?

Read Philo, Shifo, and the Love Superholy to find out! Find your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Philo-Shifo-Love-SuperHoly-SuperHolies-ebook/dp/B0CL3QWM6N 

Reviewed by Kristina Wenger, educator, podcaster, co-author of Tending the Garden of Our Hearts.

A Glimpse at “Brave Faithful and True” by Katherine Bolger Hyde, Illustrated by Gabriel Chaplin

Ancient Faith Publishing has just released a collection of stories called Brave Faithful and True, written by Katherine Bolger Hyde. Each chapter of this book is written from the perspective of a child in the Bible, granting a glimpse into what life was like for children in that time. Readers will feel that they have stepped back in time, gaining new understanding of the Bible’s stories about these children, by hearing the story “told” from the child’s point of view. Even those who have read these Bible stories time and again will come away with new insights. 

Old Testament stories included in the book are those of Isaac, Miriam, Samuel, David, Chamad (the Shunammite’s son – occasionally Hyde has selected appropriate names for the unnamed children about which she wrote – and Chamad means “desire”, showing how wanted he was), and Amah (means “maidservant”, the story of Naaman’s wife’s servant). The New Testament collection includes Mary, Jesus, Afonos (“speechless”, the boy with the mute spirit that Jesus healed when His disciples could not), Talitha (“little girl”, Jairus’ daughter), Nathan (“giver”, the boy who gave the five loaves and two fish that Jesus used to feed the 5,000), and Ignatius (named in Holy Tradition, but not in the Bible). The bulk of each chapter tells the child’s story from their perspective.

Each story begins with a line-art illustration that Gabriel Chaplin has carefully drawn. The illustration is almost iconographic in style, but includes small details from the story that readers will recognize after the reading. Hyde ends each chapter with an aside of sorts, offering the scripture references, the importance of that story, how this child’s story relates to (or points to) Christ, and other important lessons for the reader to glean from the child’s story. It also always includes encouraging words of how to apply that particular child’s experiences to one’s own life.

This book will be a beautiful read for older children who are taking steps to grow their Faith. It will be invaluable for families to read and discuss together. Sunday Church school teachers will find it helpful, as well: they could take half of a Church school year and study a different child each week, reading and discussing one of the 12 chapters. Many of the children are associated with a virtue, right in the title of their chapter, (for example, “Samuel the Obedient”). Teachers could create a lesson focused on that virtue as a second lesson, thus stretching the book even further through the Church school year. Homeschool groups could do the same. There are many, many ways for this book to be utilized in the home and classroom.

It is this reader’s opinion that this book will be a classic, read (and reread) by children and adults alike, for years to come. Every reader will come away encouraged and strengthened in their faith. Brave Faithful and True may have been written for and about children, but there is something for everyone in its pages.

Purchase your own copy of Brave Faithful and True at https://store.ancientfaith.com/brave-faithful-and-true-children-of-the-bible/ 

Reviewed by Kristina Wenger, educator, podcaster, co-author of Tending the Garden of Our Hearts.