Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Merry Christmas! I give up on the last thread - it won't let me edit anything. Here is what I prepared for Christmas being the boards are going to be shut down.

Will the Christ Child Come?

One Christmas we had an interesting experience that I would like to share.

Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there

was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a

beautiful

ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days

of Christmas were beginning! We waited excitedly for the next night's

surprise

and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that

the lamb was part of a nativity set.

Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive.

Each was exquisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers

as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ's

birth.

On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, all but the Baby Jesus.

My 12-year-old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began

to devise all kinds of ways to trap them. He ate dinner in the minivan,

watching and waiting, but no one came. Finally, we called him in to go

through

our family's Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed, we

checked the front step - - no Baby Jesus! We began to worry that my son

had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus

and there wouldn't be anything coming. Somehow, something was missing that

Christmas Eve.

There was a feeling that things weren't complete. The kids went to bed and

before

I went to bed, I again checked to see if the Jesus had come - - no, the

doorstep was empty.

In our family, the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they

have to wait

to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very

early and I

also woke up to watch them. Even before they opened their stockings, each

child

checked to see if perhaps during the night the Baby Jesus had come.

Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect. At least it

changed

my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited

to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling

of

waiting for the ceramic Christ Child. We had opened just about all of the

presents

when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs

of the tree.

He handed me a small package from my former visiting teaching companion.

This sister was somewhat less-active in the church. I had been her visiting

teacher

for a couple of years and then, when she was asked to be a visiting teacher,

she requested

to go with me. I had learned over time they didn't have much for Christmas,

so that

their focus was on the children. It sounded like she didn't get many gifts

to open,

so I had always given her a small package -- new dish towels, the next

year's Relief

Society lesson manual -- not much, but something for her to open.

I was touched when at church on the day before Christmas, she had given me

this

small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation. As I

took

off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with

gratitude for

knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this giving me a gift. But

as the

paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box

was

the Baby Jesus! He had come!

I realized on that Christmas Day, that Christ will come into our lives in

ways that

we don't expect. The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one

another.

We had waited and watched for Him to come, expecting the dramatic "knock at

the door

and scurrying of feet" but He came in a small, simple package that

represented service,

friendship, gratitude and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas

comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Savior. But we will

most

likely find Him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship and service

that we

give to each other. This Christmas I want to feel again the joy of knowing

that Christ

is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that, I

want to open

my heart to Him all year that I may see Him again.

Hot Dogs for Christmas

One Christmas eve a prosperous businessman was hurrying to the butcher shop

before closing time. "Are you buying your Christmas roast?" a friend asked.

" No. Only hot dogs," he answered.

Then he explained that long ago a bank failure had completely wiped out his

fortune. He faced Christmas with no job, no money for gifts, and less than a

dollar for food. He and his wife and small daughter said grace before dinner

that year and then ate a Christmas dinner of hot dogs. His wife had

decorated each of them, giving them toothpicks for legs and broom straws for

tails and whiskers. Their little girl was delighted and her radiant joy

spread to all of them.

After dinner they gave thanks again for the most loving and festive time

they had ever had together.

"Now it's a tradition," said the once again prosperous man. "Hot dogs for

Christmas - they remind us of that happy day when we realized that we still

had one another and our God-given sense of humor."

Wishing you all and your families a Blessed and peaceful Christmas.

May our hearts be lifted in praise

for the wonderful gift of Jesus

and the joy He brings to our lives.

Have a wonderful Christmas

and a Blessed New Year 2013.