This year, the Lord has been stirring in my heart an intense desire to make sure the Happy Buddy understands that Christmas is about a birthday.
Jesus’ birthday.
We’ve decorated our home with lights and trees and gifts in anticipation of the birthday party.
We’ve read lots of books focusing on the birthday boy.
We’ve made a few crafts in honor of the Reason for the Season.
And we’re busy planning on making an awesome 3-layer birthday cake that tells the Good News (see it HERE).
But there’s one more thing I am excited about sharing with the Happy Buddy this year as we prepare for our Lord’s coming.
The 12 Days of Christmas.
When I saw the idea over at THIS SITE, I fell in love and knew immediately that I wanted to make a set of our own cards complete with matching nativity printables so that the story of Jesus’ birth could once again come alive for our Happy Home as well as other Happy Homes around us.
Here’s the scoop…
This FREE Printable has 12 cards with poems that each tell a charming rhyme about a piece of the nativity. (I wish I could take credit for the poems, but someone else wrote them! When I asked around, no one knew where the poems originated, so if you happen to know – please share so that I can properly credit.) 🙂
Then there are 12 nativity pieces to print and pair up with the coordinating card.
Each card has a Bible verse reference that you can look up with your Happy Buddies and read aloud as you interact with the cards during the 12 days leading up to Jesus’ birthday.
Here is a peak at what the cards look like…
Grab 12 envelopes and put the card and the nativity piece in the envelope.
Number the envelopes.
*You can put the pieces in whatever order you’d like. I thought it would be neat to end with the Jesus card.*
Once your envelopes are filled, cut out these super cute explanation tags and attach to a gift bag.
Deliver to someone’s doorstep on the 13th. 🙂
By Christmas, you, or the receiver of your gift, will have a set of 12 adorable nativity cards as shown above as well as a set of 12 cards to tell His birthday story.
You can do this with your own Happy Home and/or for another Happy Home you want to celebrate Jesus’ birthday with. I am excited about doing both!
I am praying that this printable will open the door for lots of meaningful Christ-centered conversation with your family this holiday season as well as help you share the joy of Christ’s coming with the people in your world.
In return for this fabulous FREE Printable, I’d love it if you’d become an email subscriber to Happy Home Fairy (see the right sidebar) or give a ‘Like’ to the Fairy on Facebook so that you can stay up-to-date on all the fun we have here.
It would also be great if you could share this FREE Printable on Facebook, Twitter, or even Pin It to your Pinterest Board. Let’s see this thing spread like wildfire so that we can all keep our hearts focused on what’s really important this Christmas.
Ok, ready for the printable?!
**Click HERE to get your 12 Days of Christmas Nativity Cards**
Merry 12 Days of Christmas-ing! 🙂
*A BIG thanks to JW Illustrations for the adorable nativity graphics.*
*NOTE – I misspelled Myrrh in the photos above, but the printable cards are correct.* 🙂
This works perfectly with the Little People Nativity set! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing all your talents with us…you inspire me everyday to find extraordinary moments tucked inside an ordinary day 🙂
You have such delightful Nativity Ideas. I’m sharing on Pinterest and Facebook for fellow grandparents and I love Mimi’s idea as well – since I also have the Little People Nativity set for my youngest grand-toddler here plus have given them to my other grandkids long distance. 🙂 Thank you for the sweet blessings of ideas! 🙂
Kaye
Please check the rhyming of the poem for frankincense.
love this, thank you so much for sharing, I have printed off just now and can’t wait to start.
Ps I have liked you on facebook and pinned it to my board
Again thank you
Thanks so much for the free printable. I have pinned it to my pinterest board and have sent it along to a friend to share with the littles that she watches each day. My 6 year old daughter will also love this! Thanks for keeping it real on your blog, and helping those of us out with no graphic art skills! 🙂
Thank you! These are darling!!
I can’t get it to open?
Christine, make sure you have the latest version of adobe reader on your computer! all of my printables are in PDF format. 🙂
I love Melanie’s wonderful idea, and I love the adorable graphics that you used to put together this great printable!!! Thank you so much for your generous heart and for spreading the spirit of the true meaning of Christmas! 🙂
P.S. I LOVE reading your blog, and I signed up for email notifications!
These are really well done! Love it!
These are just beautiful, Julie! Thank you for sharing this with us, I will love to share them with my Sunday School kids!
I pinned it to my board on pinterest and shared it on Facebook! I love them! We already have a Nativity Advent calendar that we are doing and these cards will work great with that! Thanks so much for sharing!
very cute! thank you for sharing. a friend referred me. I’ve never seen your blog and love it. signing up for email.
Merry Christmas
I can’t afford the Little People Nativity set right now, but my dad has a woodshop so I printed this off and I’m going to put the characters on blocks of wood (using modge podge) and make a simple stable and inn for my kids to play with. I’ll laminate the cards and put it on a key ring so we can do tell the Christmas story. Thanks!!!
I posted your link on my blog! I did this 2 years ago with my son and we’re doing it again this year! We delivered our first tonight and are soo excited!
http://rookietorockstar.blogspot.com/2012/12/thoughtful-thursdaynativity-ring-run.html
Thanks for the printables!
So today we focused on Baby Jesus’ mom Mary. I read our son Lou the verses about Mary and we put her picture up on the wall. I was feeling all warm inside after sharing this with Lou, he actually sat and listened and intently watched me find the verses in Luke! Moments later, I am around the corner and I hear, “Beep, Beep, Baby Jesus!” as Lou crashes his train right through his Play School Nativity set! Ho, hum!
Betsy – that is awesome! Gave me a smile this morning! We did ours and it was the sweet worshipful moment, and then the Happy Buddy is like “Can I have a chicken nugget?” 🙂
I found this on Pintrest and think it is just wonderful. I have a special needs Granddaughter and she just loves to look at colored pictures! she doesnt talk but she can point at the pictures when we ask her to find the animal. Thank you so much for sharing this great idea.
Thank you so much we are going to use this as our Christmas Card at church – everyone can write their message on the back of a picture and hang it up for all to see. God bless x
I did this years ago on my own. Loved the feeling of giving the gift of surprise and a piece of the nativity. Thanks for sharing. Your set up is much cuter than mine.
Wanted to let you know that this worked out lovely as an activity w/my preschool-K Sunday School classroom today! We sang “The 12 Days of Christmas” and then read a traditional Christmas nativity story to discuss the true meaning of Christmas. They were so excited with their bags (I printed everything out; they decorated the bags and prepared the envelopes) that even the 1st/2nd grade students came down after class and made bags for their homes too!
This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing. I want to make a set of these of all my grandchildren. There doesn’t seem to be a way to download the free printable cards. The nativity animals downloaded perfectly, but the “free printable” area won’t allow me to click on it. Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong? I would really appreciate your help. Thanks again for making these available to us.
My deepest apologies! Once I printed the nativity set, there were the cards also. LOL. I jumped the gun in commenting about not being able to download and print the cards. Again I do want to thank you for making these available. I can hardly wait for Dec. 12 to get here so my daughter’s-in-law can do this with their children. You have blessed many!
Thank you so much for this printable Nativity! I am sending to my daughter who is serving a mission in Peru! She will LOVE it!
such a great idea with beautiful graphics! Wondering if you can make a spelling correction on myrrh card?
Hi Sherry! I will see what I can do! Ha! Thanks for catching that! I have to contact my designer and she is quite busy right now… I will let you know if I am able to make it happen. THANKS! God bless you!
Sherry! I got it all fixed! Thanks again for letting me know about that! Merry Christmas!
Thank you! We are sharing this with a few families this year instead of the traditional “12 Days of Christmas” treats. I think it will help them to focus on what really matters and bring peace to their hearts at a time of difficulty. Thank you for making this available!
I have come across your blog twice now looking for great Advent ideas for my toddler. I so appreciate the printables and the artistry with which they are put together.
One constructive comment… I was a tad confused by the title 12 days OF Christmas, thinking this was a resource for the season of Christmas which lasts the 12 days between Christmas and the Epiphany (Dec 25 -Jan 7). Maybe that’s a liturgical thing just in Catholic/Orthodox churches, but we like to keep the celebrating going til the three kings show up!
Again, thanks for the resource!
Veronica! Thank you for your sweet comments! And thank you for helping me know what the REAL 12 days of Christmas is all about!
I love this! Seriously darling! Thanks for sharing the free download. Wondering if you will help me find the cute digital scrapbook paper (polkadots, chevron, etc)? I am wanting to do a full 24 days of Christmas for our family with scriptures for each day– I’m going to put the 24 envelopes in an over the door shoe organizer and fill each pocket with leftover Halloween candy:) This set will be the last 12 days. It’s my OCD side that wants it all to match– if not I can probably find something to coordinate 🙂 Thanks again!!
My kids like to do the ring and run thing so we take the pieces individually every night. It would be nice if there was an alternative explanation card with text that didn’t indicate that the person should open a different envelope every night. Otherwise, we love this. Just can’t use the two big cards you have pictured hanging from the bag.
I am so excited about finding this 12 Days of Christmas. I have been giving the traditional presents. This year, I am going to send the 12 Days of Christmas to some friends and family. Also, my daughter is in Idaho looking for a teaching job without success. She will love getting this from her mom. I am hoping that it will cheer her up.
Connie
I can’t get the printable. Do you have a pdf version?
Hi there! It is in PDF format… Did you click the link at the bottom of the post? Do you have the latest version of Adobe Reader? Let me know! If not, I will try to send it to you in an email! 🙂
LOVE it starting this tomorrow and shared with my families at church.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for having this to print for free! Not many out there to help without having to purchase something!! Have a very merry CHRISTmas!
Megan
IT IS MY PLEASURE, MEGAN! 🙂
I just wanted to tell you thank you for this darling printable. When my daughter came home from the hospital (she was born with a congenital heart defect and didn’t come home until 7 & 1/2 months old) it was a tender time. It was December and we were so grateful for her! I didn’t do a lot of preparation for Christmas that year, however. Someone did this 12 days of Christmas for us, with a few little gifts for our family. It was seriously heaven-sent. We stuck all of the pictures around our fireplace and talked about the nativity with our 3 year old. I loved the pictures so much! We have continued to use the darling pictures – until I couldn’t find them this year. So glad I could find the printable. I will never forget the kindness of whoever served us that year. Thank you to you also for making that Christmas even more special.
Trish! This comment just BLESSED ME SO SO MUCH!!! I love that God used someone and my site in your life! I am just in awe and so humbled by God’s sweet hand in all things. I hope your little girl is doing well this Christmas season. You are an amazing mama!
We have used this as a drop-and-run 12 days of Christmas activity for years. Even my teenagers get into it! Thank you so much for sharing and not only enriching our holiday season but all those we share it with. Merry Christmas!
I love hearing that! How fun!!!
I love this – your elements are adorable. The first time I saw this was on the ldshandouts.blogspot.com/2012/12/12-days-nativity.html blog: and they credited: “Believe” kit by Summertime Designs. 🙂
This is AMAZING! I appreciate the time and care you put into focusing on the Savior and allowing others to share in the love that you have for him. You are very talented and from you posts a wonderful wife and mother.
I had been searching on Pinterest for something to share with two families that I minister to and your 12 days of Christmas is perfect. I’m looking at buying strands of clothespin lights on Amazon to attach the cards as a decoration and special reminder of the season. Again, THANK YOU!
I pinned this on Pinterest and shared the pin with my sister. BTW I found your site through a Google search.
Just want to thank you for this adorable nativity. I am sharing it with my granddaughters and several others. I am giving it with the rubber ducky nativity from Oriental Trading Company and doing it one duck a day with the matching cards. For the star I’m using one of the animals(cow) camel (pig), other than that it’s a perfect match with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angel, shepherd, lamb, donkey, and three wisemen on the 12 cards. I know it will be a big hit with preschoolers, the cards match perfectly. It’s a beautiful way share the story of our Savior’s birth and introduce it to them. Thank you again so much!
I have signed up many times but still cannot download any of your free printables. Please let me know what I am doing wrong
Hello! Do you have the latest addition of Adobe Reader? Check to make sure!!!