Christmas Days

One of the traditions my husband and I do in our family is read a scripture and Christmas story each day of December leading up to Christmas. Since our kids are young, we do it as our couple scripture study; this also allows us to expand on the story or scripture. Yesterday this was our scripture:

For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the ^aLord ^bOmnipotent who ^creigneth, who was, and is from all ^deternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a ^etabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty ^fmiracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the ^gblind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

And he shall cast out ^adevils, or the ^bevil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

And lo, he shall ^asuffer ^btemptations, and pain of body, ^chunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can ^dsuffer, except it be unto death; for behold, ^eblood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his ^fanguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

And he shall be called ^aJesus ^bChrist, the ^cSon of God, the ^dFather of heaven and earth, the ^eCreator of all things from the beginning; and his ^fmother shall be called Mary.

Mosiah 3: 5-8

My thought is simple today: Amidst the hussle and bussle of this time of year, take a step back to remember why we celebrate, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Don't take Christ out of Christmas and He will envelope your whole season making it much more memorable.

Traditions

"Uplifting traditions play a significant role in leading us toward the things of the Spirit. Those that promote love for Deity and unity in families and among people are especially important."
(Cultivate Righteous Traditions by Elder Hallstrom of the 70)

Because we are now getting more focused on the Christmas season, I have decided to talk about traditions today. I took some classes at BYU while I was there and learned the importance of families doing traditions together and how they can really cement a family unit as well as give each family member a sense of identity within the family.

I think it is important to talk about now since we are just starting our families and will be starting traditions together that our kids will grow up with and learn to count on and look forward to.

When I was growing up we have had several traditions that we did throughout the years. I always looked forward to the family parties we had where I could see my cousins and enjoy the activities that were planned. We would sometimes do the dutch tradition where we put our shoes under the Christmas tree before bed and hope to find something special inside them in the morning if we had been good. We'd make treats or presents for the neighbors and then sing them a Christmas carol when we went over to deliver them. There were a lot of fun things we did, but my favorite was the nativity FHE.

During this FHE, we would get out the nativity box that had all the characters of the nativity wrapped up in newspaper and cloths. Each of us kids took turns unwrapping each character and telling what their story was. We always were jealous of whoever got to unwrap the baby Jesus. After we unwrapped each one, we would set them up on display for the rest of the Christmas season.

Growing up with these traditions always made me feel closer to my family. I wanted to stay home more often during the Christmas season since there was always something fun to do. I have a testimony of the power of family traditions and that they can bring a family closer together. I would love to hear in a comment what your family has done during the holiday season to make it extra special.

Please comment! :)