Christmas. The very word brings such a variety of memories
and thoughts to me. I like to think of the changes and progression of what it
has meant and has come to mean in my life over the years.
My first real memory (at least the first one that I can still
remember) of Christmas brings up a picture of the fireplace and mantle in the
house that used to be my Great Grandpa’s where we lived in Raymond (that was
later McKee’s old house before it burned down). We never used the fireplace but
on Christmas eve Mom and Dad would hang our stockings from the mantle and in
the morning they were miraculously filled with candy, treats, toys and always a
real Japanese orange – a rare treat for me back then.
I do have memories of certain toys as I grew a little older
(my real Lionel electric train was a highlight), but more than that of our
family Christmas traditions that just always happened. We always had a program at
our house on Christmas eve with Grandpa and Grandma Turner there with us
(Grandpa always sang and Grandma always told a story). Christmas day always brought a big Christmas dinner
at Grandma’s house, in the living room with the best dishes, with all of us and
usually Uncle Rube and the Meldrums and some of Grandma and Grandpa’s friends.
The afternoon then passed with the kids and cousins and friends playing
upstairs while the grown-ups and others who stopped by would visit downstairs.
Whenever I think about those times I again get a feeling of love and comfort
and peace.
As I hit my late teens and started to think about who I was
and what I knew, and whether I was going on a mission or not, Christmas
changed. I finally started to make the connection to what it was that we were
really celebrating and who Jesus Christ was. I knew what gifts were but it
wasn’t till I was 17 or 18 that I began to realize just what a great gift that
Christ was and had given. As a family we were having some difficult economic
struggles and we didn’t have much for earthly stuff but it really didn’t matter
– we had the gospel and the church and our friends. The winter and Christmas
that I was 18, I was attending the Lethbridge Junior College, living at home
and commuting, with one other active Latter-day Saint, David Iwaasa, and with 4
less active or non-member Raymondites.
Although there were lots of opportunities to go either way, I can
remember making conscious choices to turn towards the Lord and away from the
other things that I saw. I think that was the first Christmas I had where I can
remember really trying to focus on Christ and what He had given me. It was
quite an experience and has affected my whole life.
Right now the Church has a program for all of us to us
titled “He is the Gift” with a pass along card and some internet resources to
help people feel Christ in Christmas. Just yesterday I had a good discussion
about Christ with a real estate lady as she was showing us some possible
Elder’s apartments and the Spirit witnessed to me again, just what a Gift
Christ is and how much we have to celebrate. He is the only Saviour, He is the
king, He is our hope and salvation, and Christmas is a celebration of His
coming to earth to live and fulfill that blessing. I know that. Through the
years, men have added many things to the celebrations, some are good, and some
detract, but ultimately what we celebrate is the miraculous birth in Bethlehem
of a babe who was and is the Saviour of the whole world, who loves us, helps
us, guides us and saves us. All He asks is that we believe in and follow him,
and He gives us the gift of Eternal Life. I love Christmas for its celebration
of that truth.
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