After we've spent four weeks contemplating our great need for God, the reality that meets us at Christmas is an indescribable gift: The Father has answered our prayers, sending his Son as one like ourselves.

The joy of Christmas will last until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Jesus was born at Bethlehem, which means: "House of bread". Many ancient commentators interpreted this as prefiguring the Eucharist. Jesus came to earth in the "house of bread" and comes to us in the form of Living Bread every time we receive him in the Blessed Sacrament.

1. Go to Mass
At Christmas, we celebrate God's gift of Jesus to the world. Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist on Christmas is the moment toward which all of our preparations have brought us.

2. Set Up a Nativity Scene
The Nativity scene was popularized by St. Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century. Many families put out most of the Nativity scene before Christmas, but wait until December 25 to place Baby Jesus in the manger, and until the Feast of the Epiphany to arrange the Magi.

3. Raise the “Christmas Tree”
The Christmas, tree especially a real one, is an evergreen, symbolic of the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve disobeyed God, beginning of that brokenness which Jesus came to heal. The lights on the tree announces the Good News that we have become in Jesus and with Him "children of the light'. 4. Exchange Gifts

4. Exchange of gifts:
Our gift-giving echoes God's gift of his Son to us. We could say a prayer over our gifts for those who will receive them.