After reading the Adoration of the Wise Men scripture booklet with Nadia, age 4, I wondered why this baby was so special. She responded, “because he’ll bring peace to the world.” She asked to sing, “This Little Light.” When I wondered what the light was that we sang about, she responded, “God.”

"...goodwill to all"

The catechist had just read, "...good will to all men" when Theo's eyes got large with awe and he turned from the figures to the child next to him named Will and said, "You were there when baby Jesus was born?"

This is Jesus and this is his Light

This is Jesus and this is his light. And this is Mary and she's very happy. And this is Joseph and the shepherd with his stick. And this is the angel." by Olivia, age 5

"Everything is so humble!"

We were meditating on the Nativity and the visit of the shepherds in the elementary atrium. Suddenly, Isabela (age 6) blurts out, “It's all so humble! The baby, Mary, the manger, the shepherds … everything is so humble!” This was said in a most heartfelt way.

During a group presentation on the Nativity, Uri age 5 was reluctant to join the presentation, but drew this picture nearby.

Say a joyful Noise

Kieran, 5, made a prayer book during the atrium session to bring to bed with him every night.
p. 1 "This is Jesus.
My prayer is that Jesus is with us."
(Picture of Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem.)

p. 2 "This is Mary and Jesus.
Say a joyful noise."
(Picture of Mary and Jesus in the stable.)

p. 3 "This is Joseph.
Thank you for Jesus."
(no picture)

"Let every little heart prepare our room"

From Talia's mother:
We sang a lot at home and Talia loved singing Christmas carols the year she was three. 'Joy to the World" was such a favorite that for a couple weeks we added it to her bedtime lullabies. However she insisted on a word change as follows: instead of "Let every heart prepare him room", she (and we) would sing, "Let every little heart prepare our room." I thought perhaps it was sung this way in her atrium at school, but apparently not. It says a lot to me about her feeling at "home" and claiming space (collectively) at school..."little" hearts are important, and "our" room is special.

"The People who Walked in Darkness"

After giving a lesson on the Nativity, I asked the children, "What do you think the shepherds said when they saw Jesus?" Elijah, age 3, answered, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Natalie, age 3, said that if she was a shepherd who came to see Jesus, she would sing a song to Him.

It's suppose to be real

Tara, age eight, during a parish Christmas pageant rehearsal:"It's not supposed to be cute, it's supposed to be real."
She refused to participate but arranged to read her own prayer at the end of the pageant which included a reference to Jesus, the True Vine.
Tara is an outspoken child and loves to perform. To refuse to be in the pageant indicates very strong feelings.

Waiting and Preparing

Vincent, age 3, was engrossed in gazing at the Nativity materials--stretched out, elbows on floor, chin resting in palms. He stayed this way about 30 minutes. He had "wanted something with the baby Jesus." (Actually, wanted Annunciation, but another child was working with it.)

The week before during a spontaneous group exploring of "Light" Vincent commented, "It's light like baby Caleb (his brother)." That same day he was overheard singing a song at the altar about infant Jesus and angels with descriptions of Mary, the stable, animals, and had been "reading" the Bible in the Baptism corner. He went to the assistant excitedly saying, "I found the page that tells about when Jesus was born. Come See. Come see."

One of our 2.5 year olds was talking to herself in the Atrium: "Nobody plays with me, I want to play with Jesus." And when she walked to the other room with the Nativity and the relief map of Israel, she took the baby Jesus from the Nativity, moved to the map and took out the cross, then placed the two against each other. I never saw a baby Jesus on the cross, and was impressed with how she found the association.

We're Lucky

In this picture, Jasmine, age 6, has depicted Mary and Joseph talking with one another.
Mary says, "We're lucky." Joseph responses, "It's good to be the second father of God."

Lizzy, age 9, drew this picture of the baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph being bathed in the light of a large star. She wrote these words:

If I we're a wisewoman Lizzy

January 4, 1995
If I we're a wiswoman, I would
bring Jesus some wheat so he could
make bread. I also humn him a song
of joy!

Mary Had a Baby

Hayden's (age 4) sung prayer at the Paschal Candle:
"Mary had a baby. This is good for all of us, and pray for Mary until the baby, until he dies in the ground, and then he rose on the cross. He was alive a long, long time ago. I thought he would never die again. But you can still go where he lived.
"Someday at supper he said, 'Here's my body' and 'Here's my blood. You should drink this until I die.' And if you wanted to go to the Land of Israel, you'd have to go across the ocean, and over New York and over the salty sea and the plane would drop you off where Jesus lived."

Visitors from the East

During the three kings presentation 6-year-old Jude asked: "Where in the East did the King's come from?" I told him I didn't really know. He said,"I think they came from that part of Russia that's all the way over close to Alaska."

At the end of the presentation he commented again: " I think they came from India."

The following day Jude was working with the three kings again with some other children. They asked me to read it to them. At the end of the reading we began discussing the gifts. When I explained that myhrr was a perfumed oil he said: "Oh, like the oil that the women came to put on Jesus' body." I said, "You mean at the tomb." He said: "Yes"
Five-year-old Samuel then said:"Except he wasn't there, the tomb was empty."
"Where was he?" I asked,
"He rose and there was an angel there instead," Samuel answered.

From there we went into a discussion about angels and how they are messengers of God and that they usually say "to not be afraid".

Nativity

Orphelia drew this picture at age five, saying,
"This is Jesus and this is his light. And this is Mary and she's very happy. And this is Joseph and the shepherd with his stick. And this is the angel."

A 6-9-Year-Old's Drawing of the Annunciation