Here's a hymn about the theophany, the mystery of the Creator of all appearing in human form.
It's the Christmas Troparion sung in Arabic and written by St. Romanos the Melodist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvjiVam2HO4
Romanos was born into a Jewish family in Syria, either modern Homs (then Emesa) or Damascus, according to Wikipedia. He was baptized as a young boy, whether through his parents' conversion or his own.
He moved to Constantinople "during the reign of Athanasius"--whether Anastasius I (491-518) or Anastasius II(713-716) is not clear.
According to legend, he was a young deacon who on his turn to read the Psalms in worship, read so poorly that he was ridiculed. Then the Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him a scroll to eat. He woke up and chanted his famous Kontakion of the Nativity (sung on the link above).
He is said to have composed in Greek over a thousand kontakia. Each one is a poetic sermon of 18-30 verses, each with a refrain and united by an acrostic pattern.
Anyway, listen to this ancient hymn, a taste of how the incarnation was approached long before the days of Santa Claus and reindeer.
