Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Now in its second week, the Nativity Fast is leading us closer to the glorious Feast of the Nativity of our Lord. In the modern world, often there is much hustle and bustle associated with the Christmas season. By intentionally deciding what your family’s priority is and which things do not have to happen in the few short weeks before December 25, your heart and the hearts of each member of your family will be prepared to welcome our Lord at His Nativity.
Stick to 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 free 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.
Throughout the final weeks of 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 seasonal noise. Here are some suggestions of choices that your family can make toward the goal 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, from Orthodox Pebbles. Older children and adults will benefit from the more in-depth explanation of the icon, or as the one found here. 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 of stillness together by creating beautiful things. Slowing down enough to create can be very helpful to family members who have a love for–and need to–create. (That said, if crafting stresses you or your family, then this isn’t for you!)
- Utilize one (or more) of the black and white printable icons for 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?) 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.
- This paper Nativity scene (and one more!) are fun for children to assemble, and play with, as well.
- Younger children may enjoy creating this Nativity-themed “stained glass” decoration.
- Older children and adults may prefer to create a beautiful decoration with card stock and a craft knife or scissors, using this free pattern.
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.
- 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.
- 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. The book is also available as a set with a daily ornament that can be hung on a banister, tree, or as part of a wall display.
- If you have older children, take in this series of weekly studies, to keep your focus on Christ throughout the Nativity Fast.
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. Don’t be discouraged if your tracking of the Fast will start on Day 12, Day 24, or even Day 30! Adopt the new tradition on any of the Fast’s forty days this year, and then look forward to tracking Days 1-40 next year.
- One option is this beautiful pocket calendar. (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.)
- Another option is a spiral candle holder. Move a candle along the spiral, one step closer to the center, each day during a family prayer and/or study time. Move a candle as well as a wooden silhouette of Mary on a donkey along the trail towards the middle “Bethlehem” with this version of the spiral calendar that 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.
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 Amanda Eve 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). 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 (i.e.: 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, at the Ancient Faith Store.
Taking a little time now 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. Creating 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.
