Post 52 – Let us Begin This Christmas Season Together

Dear Family and Friends

I cannot believe that December is already upon us! I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends! Mine was great! I had at least a visit from all of my children except two of my sons who were working. My older son’s wife and younger daughters stopped by after she got off work and I sent a plate home for my son. My middle son stopped by after work and took home a plate for he and his wife and my oldest granddaughter came up from down by Independence with two of her children and her hubby for a short visit😊 so my day was filled with love and family and much giving of thanks for my many blessings.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to reflect upon all the blessings that we have received all year long. After all the first thanksgiving was all about giving thanks for the blessings the Pilgrims had received the first year they came to this new country.  When my children were growing up, we had a family activity that we started each year during the break from school for Thanksgiving. I would bring home all of the supplies and our family and sometimes friends of our family – my children’s friends, sometimes extended family, we would all gather around together and begin to decorate our ‘Christmas Bags.’

And you ask: “What are ‘Christmas Bags’?”  I will tell you – we took ordinary brown bags and decorated each one with stencils of the season or simply drawn children’s drawings that were made very colorful in the hopes of cheering up a wounded soul. You see we had the privilege every year for several years to make our ‘Christmas Bags’ for the inmates of the local county jail. I know this is something that probably would not be allowed now-a-days because of all the rules and regulations for safety, but my family enjoyed this family tradition for as long as we were allowed to do so – which was until my friend the sheriff’s terms ended.

Well after the bags were all decorated, we would begin to make the yummy goodies that would fill each bag. Each year the number of bags would differ, but my family didn’t care how many bags we needed to make – we just added or subtracted to get the right amount as we didn’t want anyone to be left out at Christmas time😊 we would make rice krispie treats in Christmas shapes; butter mints of red and green; cookies of three of four varieties; an apple or an orange; sometimes a popcorn ball; and of course a candy cane for each ‘Christmas Bag’ we made! Each bag would also have a Christmas card made by our family for each prisoner – just to let them know that someone out there was thinking of them at Christmas time😊

We would then form an assembly line around our table and wrap the goodies and fill the bags. My children loved this part the most – except for the tasting part of course! They LOVED tasting everything – to make sure that we had made them just right! You would be surprised at how much we accomplished together as a family – doing something for someone else. Those bags didn’t contain very much, but they were definitely filled with lots of love.

It was usually during Christmas Eve – day that we loaded up all the bags we had made into boxes and I took them up to the jail where the Sheriff met us or had one of his deputies meet us at the door and then on Christmas day those ‘Christmas Bags’ were delivered to the prisoners who happened to be in our jail on that day. The Sheriff reported back to me each year letting us know how appreciative the prisoners were to receive their ‘Christmas Bags.’  It was a sad year the first year we were unable to make our ‘Christmas Bags’ for the jail, we all missed taking part in that Christmas tradition.

With the month of December fast approaching, I wanted to be sure that you were aware of the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional on December 2, 2019. Come listen with me, I want you to know that it is the perfect way to begin this Christmas season. To find out more information on how to listen you can go here: https://www.lds.org/church/events/2018-first-presidencys-christmas-devotional?lang=eng

You can also watch in on the cable channel BYU at 7pm MST, here the channel is 374 but it is probably different where you are, but I am sure of you look for the BYU channel you will find it. Please check out the ideas below that I found at lds.org., so you will be able to watch or listen.

2018 First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional

• Date
• December 2, 2018
• Location
• Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah; and via satellite or online streaming

The First Presidency invites Church members and their friends to participate in the First Presidency’s Christmas devotional broadcast on Sunday, December 2, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. mountain standard time.

The program, originating from the Conference Center, will include Christmas messages by General Authorities and General Officers of the Church.

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will provide the music.

View live

The following options are available for viewing the devotional live:

• LDS.org home page
• BYUtv
• Mormon Channel (website, YouTube, mobile app, Roku)
• Local meetinghouse via Church satellite system
  Various other stations and internet sites throughout the world will also carry the devotional. Check local program listings for availability in your area.
  Stake technology specialists
  Stake technology specialists should refer to the Church broadcast schedule when it becomes available approximately three weeks before the event.
• 
  
  Tickets to live event
  The event at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, is free but tickets are required for admission. Tickets for the event are sold out. Patrons without tickets are invited to stand by for last-minute seating. The standby line will form at the north gate on Temple Square approximately two hours prior to the scheduled event start time.
  Social media sharing
  
  To participate in conversations about the Christmas devotional on Twitter and other social media channels, use #ChristmasDevo.
  Archive
  Video and audio recordings of the devotional—along with text from the messages in English, Spanish, and Portuguese—will also be provided on broadcast.lds.org and in the Gospel Library app within a week. These recordings may be used as part of local unit or family Christmas celebrations and gatherings.
• Doesn't the temple look so festive amongst the trees? This picture is so beautiful I had to share it with all of you. I do love the Temple!
  So, when you think of Christmas – what is the first thing that you think of? Is it the presents that you still need to but or is it the grocery lit that seems to be getting longer and longer, is it the sakes that you hope to catch --- or is your first thought of a little baby boy born in a manger because there was no bed for Him to lay His head. Our Savior’s birth – remember that He is the reason for the season. I know that the world has almost forgotten the reason that we began celebrating Christmas day all those years ago and in a lot of things the world seems to have almost taken Christ out of Christmas☹
  I hope that each of you will take the opportunity to begin this Christmas season by joining me at the Frist Presidency Devotional this first weekend in December. If you have never listened to a Christmas Devotional, you really ought to give it a try – it is the perfect way to begin this very special season of the year, where we celebrate the birth of our Savior, even Jesus Christ.  I guess that is enough of my ramblings for this post – so until my next post please do make it a wonderful week!