Cliff Notes

Each year our friends host a party that includes a reenactment of the Christmas story (Anna was an angel this time) and a visit from Santa. The size of the party, and resulting mass of children, varies from year to year. This year there seemed to be a LOT of kids, but maybe it was just me.

Something I read this morning inspired this post. It was this month's First Presidency message (by Henry B. Eyring) about choosing to be grateful. I love that this message came in December. After President Eyring's message was a separate "gratitude challenge" by John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat (?) that I liked. It's 100 things to be thankful for, broken down into ten sets of ten. Here it is:

Can you hear the TARDIS? I can. Karen sent this. Cookie jars are cool.

BBC America has a whole lotta Who scheduled for Christmas Eve day. Then, beginning in the wee hours of Christmas morning, episodes run continuously until this year's Christmas special, "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe" premiers at 9/8 Central.

...and in case you were wondering, Downton Abbey returns January 8th.

Yes, we talked about Chanukah today in Seminary. I played this for them and they did a word search: Chanukah, Maccabees, eight days, dreidl, menorah, latke, gelt. You know, just the basics.

They looked at me kinda funny when I started this video. Kind of like the clerk at World Market last night when I asked if they had dreidls. And a second clerk. But MY class WILL know what a dreidl is.

I have blogged about some really good seminary days, but the reality is that most days are just OK and some are not very good at all. This morning was one of those. I am recording this in the interest of remembering what a personal challenge it has been. When I was released as RS president, a friend said it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.  I guess I need more refining...

We display this Star of David each Christmas.

My great friend and pretend sister, Sue, invited me to be part of their family tradition of "red envelope" letters for each day in December for missionaries in the family. Sue was a missionary in Toronto, Canada and now her son Marshall is serving in the same mission. He is one of a handful of missionaries  who learn to speak and teach in Farsi. This is what I wrote to him:

    Thinking of you there at Christmas made me remember my mission at Christmas. In English, “Christmas” is a compound word derived from “Christ’s Mass.” But in Italy, you say “Buon Natale” which roughly means, “good birth.” Sounds good, but in fact the holiday may have originated in Roman celebrations of the sun’s birth rather than the Son’s birth! Later on, Roman Christians designated their celebration of the Nativity for that time, maybe to claim the day away from the pagans. 

     Anyway, that Christmas on my mission the mail didn’t reach me in time, so the gifts I had came from a sister in the ward and a family we were teaching. I got tights, a nice leather wallet and a china doll. I gave the doll to my girls when they were old enough, and used the wallet until I was afraid it would wear out;  recently I began using it again.  

     That December we wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon in Christmas paper to give to people on the main pedestrian shopping street. One night we approached an older gentleman in front of his shop. I think we said we had something to share with him and briefly described the book before offering it to him. He accepted the wrapped book (many many people were not interested) then said he wanted to share something with us and disappeared into his shop. When he came back he presented me with a tile he had made. Painted in gold was a Star of David surrounded by a circle of flowers and carved Hebrew letters that spelled out “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Those words, the Shema Yisrael, are used in Jewish prayer services and taught to children to say before bedtime. It is kind of THE statement of Jewish faith.

     Growing up I had many Jewish friends and have long been fascinated and impressed with the daily exercise of Jewish faith. As a youth, it seemed to touch their lives more than the faith of friends of various Christian denominations. I read books with Jewish protagonists and soaked up the culture to be found in them. So when I saw the tile and heard the words, even in Italian, I recognized them and was deeply touched that he would give such a personal declaration of faith to me.

    Now each year at Christmas I display that Star of David tile. Perhaps unusual for a Christian home, to me the star beautifully references the Savior’s birth in Bethlehem. It also reminds me of being far from home, trying to teach the gospel and being mostly rejected, and the special gift of faith I was given from a stranger.

     That is the beauty of this season: amidst all the hubbub and completely over-the-top commercialization, there really is a greater sense of giving and love. As a missionary this year you have a new way to experience the real “Spirit of Christmas,” the Spirit of the Lord touching hearts and minds. I hope you have many, many opportunities of sharing your faith and the joyful message of the Savior’s birth.

  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”   Luke 2:11

      Buon Natale!  

Today in seminary we introduced Leviticus -- it is like an instruction manual on the Mosaic Law. To show the value in having instructions I set out tools and ingredients and asked two students to make something yummy. These were the ingredients:

Powdered sugar, cocoa, salt, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips.

After some discussion with the studio audience my student chefs gave up and I brought out the cookies I had made the night before with those ingredients and a recipe I found via Pinterest.

recipe available here: http://chocolateandcarrots.com/2011/07/flourless-fudge-chocolate-chip-cookies

We had a discussion on 4 pillars of the Mosaic Law (sacrifice, remembrance, separation, cleanliness) found in Leviticus and what it had to do with them today. They discussed. It was fabulous.

Another nice thing: this lesson plan came directly from the teacher's manual!

Following our discussion we took the first link from our Christmas Countdown chain (14 seminary days until Christmas Break) and answered the question inside. Today is was, "What is your favorite Christmas tradition?" Lots of fun sharing ensued.

Shout out to Karen for helping me come up with link topics, from "Egg Nog: Yes or No?" to "In your nativity, does baby Jesus go in the manger all month or only on Christmas Eve?"

Such a good morning. Tomorrow I will do the first of 4 advent lessons and introduce a Christmas Challenge based on Matthew 25:31-40.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!