Sofia's Christmas Ideas: Christmas is a time of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Alma 7:10-12

And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Christmas is a time of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Image courtesy creative commons license flickr.com by gare and kitty 12/2006

Read the following by President Hinckley:

" Merry Christmas! my beloved friends. I greet you wherever you may be as members of the Church family. We are met tonight to pay homage to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, whose life and death mean so very much to each one of us. This is a gathering for prayer and song and speech, in tribute to the Master of all, the Lord Omnipotent, who condescended to come to earth, to be born in a stable, in a conquered nation, under the humblest of circumstances.

He was the Prince Almighty who left the royal courts on high and came among us to teach us and to lead us in His quiet and wonderful way.
As we now embark on the third millennium since His birth, we think of His tremendous influence upon the world. We feel profoundly grateful to have been born in this wonderful season of His glorious work.

How grateful we of this Church should feel. We live in the fullness of times. Mark that phrase. Mark the word fullness. It denotes all of good that has been gathered together in the past and restored to earth in this final dispensation.

My heart tonight is filled with thanksgiving unto the Almighty God. Through the gift of His Son, who is the God of this world, we have been so magnificently blessed. My heart rings with the words of our hymn, “Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your many blessings; see what God hath done” (Hymns, no. 241)."

Gordon B. Hinckley, “First Presidency Christmas Devotional: ‘My Redeemer Lives’,” Ensign, Feb 2001, 70–73

String some popcorn as a family, and for each popcorn to go on, name something you are grateful to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for. OR Make a gratitude jar by putting in a piece of candy each time you say something you are grateful to Heavenly Father and Jesus for. Give it away to a neighbor with a note of things you came up with as a family and your testimony of Christ.