Epiphany of the Lord Coloring Page: Free Printable

"When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage..."

Download entire coloring page here!

For the past two years, I volunteered at the Liturgy of the Word for Children at one of our Masses.

To help keep the children engaged, I always drew the Sunday Gospel reading on the enormous dry-erase board in our meeting place.

Recently, I've been thinking how much fun it'd be to have an actual printable to accompany the Sunday Gospel. And so, I drew up one for this Sunday: an Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ Coloring Page.

Feel free to download the complete printable (the above image is only part of it), and use* it as a:

• Conversation starter after Mass to discuss the Gospel with your kids
• A Mass journaling page 
• A printable for your Faith Formation class or homeschool study 
• And more!

I hope you enjoy it! (And if you're on Instagram, be sure to tag me at @paper_dali so I can see your coloring work. : ) )

* All rights reserved. You may use my Epiphany coloring page for your family, homeschool group, and Faith Formation program but not for your company, work, or financial gain of any sort. Questions? Email me at mypaperdali@gmail.com.

Happy Saint Nicholas Day: Free Printables About Saint Nicholas

When I was a child, the feast day of Saint Nicholas had a hazy, almost mythical quality to it. My parents spoke of putting out their shoes at night and receiving gifts by morning on December 6, but they did not carry the tradition for us children. The feast day was something from the homeland, not something to be celebrated in the United States, and it bore little importance to real life.

December 6 came and went for many years of my life without much attention except for a vague thought in the back of my mind that "oh, it's the feast day of the guy who became Santa."

Then, I became a mother and learned about this patron saint of children. The hazy outline of Saint Nicholas became stronger, and his personality boldly marked. This was not a soft, cozy sort of apparition from the past. Saint Nicholas was a brave and fiery bishop during turbulent times.

After reading Elizabeth Foss's brilliant "Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home" book, my husband and I made a conscious decision to celebrate the liturgical cycle, to learn and grow and pray about the meanings of the different days the Church sets aside for us to celebrate.

Saint Nicholas came into our life then ... and we've never let go. This bishop, with his generosity and kindness and steadfast spirit, inspired his community so long ago and continues to inspire so many, many others today.

He's far more than this vague prototype of Santa Claus. He's not just an old-timey version of Santa. He was fiery in his faith and defender of the Church's teachings.

You can learn more about him through this brief video:

 

(And if you subscribe to Formed.org, don't forget to watch the short animated movie "Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa.")

As our family learned more about this saint, I found myself drawing him often. Here are a few printables of Saint Nicholas that I'd like to share with you:

Download this Saint Nick coloring page!

I also drew this small printable St. Nicholas notecard to color up and share with your friends and family:

May this saintly bishop bless you and your family today and always.

xo
Vee

Bilingual Catholic Mass Playset [Printable]

To help children familiarize themselves with the different articles of the Catholic Mass (and to have fun while they do so), I drew up a printable Catholic Mass playset. Everything is labeled in both Spanish and English.

I call it a "playset" because it comes with two families and a priest to color and make-believe they are attending Mass. And because some kids will want to dive into the playing part first (and color afterwards), I also colored everything in the playset.

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Dec 22, 2016 at 5:00pm PST

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Dec 22, 2016 at 5:00pm PST

My kids used an empty Amazon box to serve as their church. They cut out and pasted the different elements (like the pews, stained glass windows, tabernacle, etc.) in it and played for a long while. (They later added the peg dolls from their collection for additional fun.)

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Dec 9, 2016 at 11:13am PST

They also used another copy to decorate a wooden birdhouse and transform it into a church:

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Jan 12, 2017 at 4:20pm PST

We also played around with the set and made a "construction paper church."

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Jan 5, 2017 at 8:39am PST

Check out all the details of the printable Catholic Mass playset in my Etsy shop.

Free Saint Nicholas Day Bookmarks [Printable]

Saint Nicholas's feast day is almost here! Much mystery and myth surround this kind-hearted fourth-century bishop of Myra. But we do know that fact and also that many miracles were attributed to him.

Because of his upcoming feast day, he's on my mind...

St. Nick freebie bookmarks coming to my blog super-soon!🎅 (Watching a movie + sketchpad on my lap = a coloring page 😋) #catholic #catholicfamilies #saints #saintnick #saintnicholas #advent2016 #advent

A photo posted by Vee (@paper_dali) on Nov 30, 2016 at 5:37pm PST

Want to make him be part of your Advent celebration, too?

Then enjoy these free St. Nicholas bookmarks! Just download the coloring page from this link (or click on the picture) and print them out. Make sure you print them in landscape mode and you may have to shrink them to the printable area (or not---it depends on how big you want your bookmarks).
I've colored one of the bookmarks in case you just want to print them out and use them as a surprise gift on the feast day of St. Nicholas or tuck them into whatever book you're reading this Advent season. But I'm also including a black-and-white version, so that you can use the bookmark-making as a craft activity.

If you do use the bookmarks, feel free to tag me on Instagram (I love the 'gram!) and let me see your fine coloring work.

May you have a blessed St. Nicholas Day and a holy, hope-filled Advent.
xo
Vee