A guide
For Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve, the morning, and a Christmas that is hard
Christmas dinner usually comes with a moment where everyone looks at whoever is supposed to pray. If that is you this year, the first prayer below is short enough to read while the food is still hot, and you can use it word for word.
The rest are for the other parts of the season: Christmas Eve after the candlelight service, the morning before the presents, the family around the table, and the people for whom this is the hardest week of the year. Each sits next to the Scripture it comes from. For the verses on their own, see Bible verses about Christmas. For the four Sundays before, see Advent.
The meal is the one part of Christmas almost every family shares, whether or not anyone went to church. A grace at the table is a small way of saying whose birthday it is.
Before Christmas dinner
Father, thank You for this food, for the people around this table, and for the reason we are celebrating. On the first Christmas You sent Your Son into the world, and He is still the best gift any of us has been given. Bless this meal and the hands that made it, and keep Jesus at the center of this day. In His name, amen.
A shorter one
Lord, thank You for this food, for this family, and for Jesus. Amen.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever.
Psalm 136:1
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
James 1:17
For a lot of families Christmas Eve is the quietest night of the season: a candlelight service, the drive home, the house finally still. Luke says Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart, which is a good description of what this night is for.
For Christmas Eve
Lord Jesus, tonight we remember the night You were born: a manger, shepherds who hurried to see, and a mother who kept it all in her heart. You came quietly, and You came for us. Quiet our hearts tonight, and let us wake up tomorrow glad that You came. Amen.
8 And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
9 Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:
11 Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!
12 And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”
Luke 2:8-14
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:19
Before the wrapping paper starts flying, it takes half a minute to remember that the first Christmas gift was not under a tree. Paul ran out of words for it and called it indescribable.
For Christmas morning
Father, thank You for this morning and for the people in this room. Before we open anything, we thank You for the gift none of us could have bought: Your Son, given for us. Make us generous today, patient with each other, and grateful for every gift, especially the ones that cannot be wrapped. Amen.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Christmas puts more people under one roof than any other week of the year, with the same old dynamics and less sleep. Psalm 133 says how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony, a verse that reads very differently at about four in the afternoon on December 25.
For our family
God, thank You for this family, the people here and the ones who could not come. You put each of us here on purpose. Give us patience with each other today, and kindness when we are tired. Keep old arguments where they belong, in the past. Let this house feel like a place where Jesus is welcome, because He is. Amen.
A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
Psalm 133:1
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:2-3
For some people this is the hardest week of the year: the first Christmas after a death, a divorce or a diagnosis, a job lost in the fall, or one more December alone. A season that insists everyone be merry can make grief louder.
Scripture does not ask for the performance. The first Christmas was hard too: an unexpected pregnancy, a long journey, no room, and before long a family running for their lives. Isaiah's great light was promised to people walking in darkness, not to people who had it all together.
For a hard Christmas
Lord, this Christmas is not what we hoped it would be, and You know why. We will not pretend in front of You. Thank You that You came into a world full of grief, and that You are close to the brokenhearted. Be near to everyone in this house who is hurting today, especially the ones who will not say so. We are grateful and we are grieving, and You are big enough for both. Amen.
Remembering someone we miss
Father, there is an empty place this year, and Christmas makes it harder to ignore. Thank You for the Christmases we had with them. Comfort us in the missing. And thank You that because Jesus came, death does not get the last word. Amen.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
Plenty of people spend Christmas Day on their own, by choice or not: a widow, a nurse on shift, a student far from home, someone estranged from their family. Psalm 68 says God settles the lonely in families, and Hebrews holds Him to His promise never to leave us.
For a Christmas alone
Lord, it is quiet here today. You know I am on my own this Christmas, and You know how I feel about it. Thank You that You came to be Immanuel, God with us, and that You are with me now. Be my company today. And if there is someone I could call, or a table I could join, give me the nerve to do it. Amen.
God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
Psalm 68:6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).
Matthew 1:23
Christmas is the easiest time of year to hand a child the prayer. Both of these are short enough to learn before the twenty-fifth.
For children
Thank You, God, for baby Jesus, for my family, and for Christmas. Amen.
A Christmas grace
Thank You, Jesus, for coming down, for food and family gathered round. Bless this meal and bless this day. Happy birthday, Jesus. Amen.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
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Lord, thank You for this food, for this family, and for Jesus. Amen. If you want something a little longer, the first prayer on this page reads aloud in about twenty seconds and works at any Christmas table.
Luke 2:10-11 is the most familiar: good news of great joy, a Savior born in the city of David. Isaiah 9:6 and John 3:16 are both short enough to read before a meal, and 2 Corinthians 9:15 is a one-line thank you for the gift of Jesus.
Honestly. You can thank God for the person you miss and tell Him it hurts in the same prayer. The first Christmas was not easy for anyone in it, and Jesus is called Immanuel, God with us, because He came into a world that was hurting. The prayers above for a hard Christmas were written for that.
Whoever the host asks. In a lot of families it is a chance to hand the prayer to someone who does not usually get asked: a grandchild, a new son-in-law, a guest. Reading a written prayer is fine. It is still yours when you mean it.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.