Father Christopher Zugger

Your birth, O Christ our God

Has shed upon the world the light of knowledge;

For through it, those who worship the stars
Have learned from a star to worship You [bow and make the Sign of the Cross ],

the Sun of Justice

And to recognize You as the Orient From On High.

Glory be to You, O Lord!

In the Nativity icons, Our Lady rests on the large traveling blanket in which she rode, slung along the side of the donkey while traveling to Bethlehem. She is in blue (humanity) and red (divinity). The Infant Jesus is wrapped in swaddling clothes which also prefigure the wrapping of the linens around His dead body after the crucifixion. The ox and donkey fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 1:3. The Magi are shown traveling toward Bethlehem on the left, while the shepherds come at the right. The angels who appeared to the shepherds are shown above. Saint Joseph is off to the side, pondering the great mystery, while a figure who is really Satan tries – unsuccessfully  – to tempt him. The cave is the gift of the earth to its redeemer, and also prefigures the tomb with its black interior. Midwives are sometimes shown, washing the Infant, to show His humanity, but His halo with the Divine Name remains intact to show His divinity.

Scroll below for some nice ones.

And this nice one of the Mother of God and Child,  with the ox and donkey (Isaiah 1:3)