Catholic Concepts has launched a new line of Christmas cards that feature religious images on one side and space for family photos on the other. The cards are designed to honor both faith and family during the Christmas season. The initiative was created by Scott and Elisabeth Williams, the founders of Catholic Concepts, known for their Sock Religious. The Christmas cards feature original designs from Catholic artists Elizabeth Zelasko, Jill Elizabeth, and Jana Zuniga. A portion of the proceeds from the cards will go to the artists.
23 days ago
Aleteia highlights a new collection of Christmas cards from Catholic Concepts' brand, Our Holy Home, designed to blend religious imagery with personal family elements.1 These cards address the common dilemma of choosing between sacred depictions and family photos during the holiday season. Published on November 23, 2025, the article celebrates how these designs honor faith while supporting Catholic artists.
Scott and Elisabeth Williams, the couple behind Catholic Concepts—known for Sock Religious—launched this line to make sharing the Gospel through Christmas cards easier.1 They emphasize witnessing to the Incarnation and the joy of Christ's birth in a meaningful tradition. Our Holy Home curates Catholic home goods and decor to strengthen the domestic church.
The cards feature original artwork by three sacred fine artists: Elizabeth Zelasko, Jill Elizabeth, and Jana Zuniga.1 Designs include inspiring images like angels, the Star of Bethlehem, and the Nativity scene. Each card has a customizable back for adding family photos and messages, allowing personalization without sacrificing religious focus.
Proceeds from sales directly benefit the artists, promoting responsible Christmas shopping that aids Catholic creators.1 Madison Cipoletti of Catholic Concepts notes that beauty captivates hearts and leads to truth, with these cards reflecting Christmas's true spirit. The initiative encourages families to share faith, bringing joy and inspiration to recipients.
Beyond the artist collaborations, Our Holy Home offers various other Catholic Christmas card designs.1 The article ties this to broader themes of sacred art, linking to related stories on small shops for Catholic cards and efforts to revive great sacred art in places like Houston. This collection positions holiday greetings as a simple way to evangelize through aesthetics.
How do contemporary Catholic artists integrate faith and family in Christmas imagery?
Contemporary Catholic artists draw deeply from the Church's rich tradition to weave faith and family into Christmas imagery, transforming simple visuals like nativity scenes, cards, and icons into profound invitations for spiritual reflection and domestic devotion. This integration reflects the Holy Family of Nazareth as the ultimate model, where the Incarnation of Christ illuminates the sacredness of everyday family life. By portraying the birth of Jesus amid themes of humility, poverty, and communal love, artists not only celebrate the Nativity but also encourage families to see their homes as "domestic churches" where faith is nurtured through prayer, sacrifice, and shared joy. This approach aligns with the Catechism's vision of sacred images in homes that awaken faith in Christ's mystery, fostering a sense of communion that mirrors the Trinity.
At the heart of Catholic artistic expression lies the belief that art, especially sacred art, serves to express God's infinite beauty and direct hearts toward Him. The Church has long encouraged artists to create works that elevate the soul, as seen in the fine arts' dedication to praising God and turning minds devoutly to Him. Pope John Paul II, in his Letter to Artists, praised those who seek "new epiphanies of beauty," offering their creations as gifts that reveal the goodness of God's handiwork, echoing the Genesis declaration that all He made was "very good." This principle extends to Christmas imagery, where contemporary artists use painting, sculpture, and even digital designs to depict the Nativity not as a distant historical event but as a living reality that intersects with family bonds.
In modern contexts, this manifests in artworks that blend traditional iconography with relatable family scenes. For instance, nativity depictions often include the Holy Family—Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus—as the focal point, surrounded by shepherds and angels to symbolize the universal call to faith. Pope Benedict XVI highlighted how Christian artists contribute to a "new Christian humanism" through such works, particularly in painting and sculpture, making faith's beauty evident in human history. The Pontifical Council for Culture emphasized that sacred art should be indigenous and Catholic, respecting liturgical norms while inspiring prayer and creativity accessible to all. Thus, contemporary Catholic artists might incorporate cultural elements—like regional attire or modern family gatherings around a crèche—to make the faith feel immediate and familial, turning Christmas cards into tools for evangelization within the home.
The Holy Family stands as the quintessential symbol in Christmas imagery, embodying how faith sanctifies family life. Pope John Paul II described it as both supernaturally holy and profoundly human, facing poverty, exile, and daily labors much like ordinary families today. This duality allows artists to portray Nazareth's hearth not as an exception but as a blueprint for all households, where Christ's birth infuses marital fidelity, parental love, and childlike wonder with divine grace. In his 1978 address, John Paul II urged newlyweds to emulate this family, fostering virtues like faithfulness and respect to build a "domestic Church" radiant with Christ's peace.
Contemporary artists build on this by centering Christmas visuals around the Holy Family's humility. A nativity scene, for example, might show Joseph protectively cradling the Christ Child while Mary gazes in adoration, evoking the family's role in transmitting faith across generations. The Catechism reinforces this, noting the Christian family as a communion of persons reflecting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with duties toward procreation, education, and evangelization. Book reviews of works like Mary Shivanandan's The Holy Family: Model not Exception underscore how such imagery positions every family as called to sanctity, countering modern challenges to marriage by highlighting the Holy Family's self-gift as a reflection of Trinitarian love. Artists today might extend this to cards featuring diverse families praying before a crèche, integrating faith's call to solidarity with the poor and marginalized, as the Holy Family itself experienced rejection at the inn.
Pope Francis, in Admirabile Signum, celebrated the nativity scene as a "simple and joyful proclamation" of the Incarnation, inviting families to create these displays as spiritual journeys that encounter God in humility. He encouraged their use in homes, schools, and public spaces, blending artistry with popular piety to revive traditions like family crib inaugurations, which include Scripture readings and carols. This fosters a domestic liturgy where art nourishes charity and prayer, making Christmas a time for families to "become what they already are" in Christ.
In practice, contemporary Catholic artists integrate these themes through accessible media like Christmas cards and home decorations, drawing from the Church's liturgical year. The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy outlines how cribs and trees symbolize Christ's life-giving presence, evoking Eden's tree and the Cross, while encouraging gifts for the poor to express family solidarity. Artists respond by designing cards with intricate nativity illustrations—perhaps a modern Holy Family in a stable lit by a single star—accompanied by quotes from the Gospels or papal exhortations on family prayer. Such imagery aligns with the Homiletic Directory's emphasis on the Incarnation's visibility through sacred images, which venerate Christ and the saints while awakening faith.
The Church's support for artistic freedom ensures these works remain vibrant. John Paul II noted in 1993 that Christmas should bring joy and comfort to families threatened by materialism, inspiring art that spreads love open to life. Today, this might include sculptures of the Holy Family by young artists like those awarded by Benedict XVI, or digital cards blending traditional icons with family vignettes of shared meals and prayers. The result is imagery that not only adorns but actively forms families, as sacred images in homes venerate the persons represented and nourish devotion to Mary's role as Theotokos. Even in his 1983 address to U.S. bishops, John Paul II stressed the family's sacramental catechesis, centered on Eucharist and prayer, which artists capture in scenes of families adoring the newborn King.
Challenges arise in a secular age, where faith and family face cultural pressures, yet artists counter this by portraying the Holy Family's trials—flight to Egypt, temple finding—as triumphs of trust, mirroring contemporary struggles. Pope Francis echoed this in emphasizing marriage's honor, entrusting families to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus for strength. Through such art, Christmas becomes a beacon, as John Paul II described in 1978, where families glorify God for what they've "heard and seen."
Ultimately, these artistic integrations serve a pastoral purpose: to make the domestic church a reality. The Catechism teaches that the home is where children first hear the faith, becoming a school of virtues and charity. Contemporary Christmas imagery facilitates this by inviting families to pray before nativity scenes, exchanging cards that prompt reflections on the Incarnation's humility. Artists, guided by the Church's call for creativity in sacred expression, ensure these visuals are not mere decorations but conduits of grace, helping families live out their missionary task.
In a world often divided, this art reaffirms the Holy Family's solidarity with all, from the poor to the exiled, fostering hope amid difficulties. By depicting faith's warmth in familial settings, contemporary Catholic artists remind us that Christmas is God's gift of Himself to every home, urging us to welcome Him as Mary and Joseph did.