The Office of Family and Sanctity of Life
Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat Parma

Share the Christmas story with your children and loved ones.

As we are in the midst of Philip’s Fast, maybe you’re in a season of “survival mode,” and there’s too much to do to even think about adding extra holiday traditions. Or maybe you’re questioning if you’ve adequately prepared your family for Christmas. How can you know what’s most important to do this season?

Luckily the answer is easier than you might think. Once, when a mother was questioning whether she was “doing enough” to celebrate the liturgical year with her children, a wise priest told her, “Just make sure they know the story.”

Read the Christmas story. Talk about the story, the beauty of it, the truth of the birth of Jesus that will never cease to be astonishing beyond the power of humans to comprehend. This time of year, happiness and childlike wonder are all around us, and luckily the magic of the season is free and accessible to all.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need to spend lots of money or go to great lengths to create Christmas magic. It can be found right here, in your home: drinking hot cocoa after school, cuddling up to read a book next to twinkly lights, slowly looking at the Nativity-scene figures one by one, singing together the Christmas hymns. He will come, as He does eternally, born anew in each of our lives and hearts—no matter how we have prepared, no matter whether we feel ready.

That’s the incredible part: We don’t really have to do anything to prepare at all. As long as we open our hearts, Jesus will come—and all that’s left for us to do is to give thanks for the gift of His love, so far beyond our deserving, that is here in abundance for our taking, every day of our lives.