Christmas Coloring Pages

Nothing arrives printed dark

Christmas artwork is full of areas that usually come pre-filled — Santa's belt and boots, a reindeer's nose, the lit windows of a village at night, the inside of a stable. On these pages none of them are. The belt is an outline with a hollow buckle, the nose is an open circle, every one of the village's forty-odd windows is an empty four-pane rectangle, and the night sky is left as paper. That is most of a page you would otherwise never get to colour.

Detail you can actually work into

Santa's beard is twelve separate curls rather than one shape. The angel's wings are about thirty-five separate feathers each. The sheep in the nativity is eighteen open curls of fleece, and the straw in the manger is twenty separate strands. Everything that looks like texture is drawn as parts, so it can be coloured as parts.

The whole of Christmas

Santa, his sleigh and reindeer, an elf, a baby reindeer, the tree, presents, stockings by the fireplace, a gingerbread house, a snowy village, a nativity and an angel — plus two children decorating the tree, which is the page most families print first.

Six pages for adults

The village has seven houses, a church, four lamp posts and a square with a decorated tree. The angel is ornate throughout. Then the wreath, the mandala, the patterned baubles and the doodle sheet of twenty-six.

Advent and classroom printing

The doodle sheet works well cut into squares for an advent chain, and the elf, the baby reindeer and Santa's face are the three most forgiving pages for a very young child.

Printing

Print at 100% scale rather than “fit to page”, and match the file to your paper — Letter or A4. The button at the top bundles all twenty into a single download.