Merry Christmas
Sisters!
I have always
loved this time of year. I love the music, the lights, the gift giving, the
food, and the time with family. I love the Christmas traditions, decorations,
movies and stories. Most of all I love the Spirit of Christmas and the feeling
you get when focusing on the true meaning of Christmas – Jesus Christ and the
love he has for all of His children.
I hear a lot of
people complain that Christmas has become to “commercialize” and the true
meaning has been lost. Many years ago my Grandma gave me a 25 days of Christmas
book filled with stories and songs to read each day of Dec. until Christmas.
One story in particular always helps me remember that it doesn’t matter how
commercialized the world has made Christmas if we always remember its true
purpose. The following is that story, one most of you will be familiar
with.
A Boy Learns
a Lesson
by Thomas S. Monson
In
about my tenth year, as Christmas approached, I longed for an electric
train. The times were those of economic depression, yet Mother and Dad
purchased for me a lovely electric train.
Christmas
morning bright and early, I thrilled when I noticed my train. The next
few hours were devoted to operating the transformer and watching the engine
pull its cars forward—then backward around the track.
Mother
said that she had purchased a wind-up train for Widow Hansen’s boy, Mark, who
lived down the lane at Gale Street. As I looked at his train, I noted a
tanker car which I much admired. I put up such a fuss that my mother
succumbed to my pleadings and gave me the tanker car. I put it with my
train set and felt pleased.
Mother
and I took the remaining cars and the engine down to Mark Hansen. The
young boy was a year or two older than I. He had never anticipated such a
gift. He was thrilled beyond words. He wound the key in his engine,
it not being electric nor expensive like mine, and was overjoyed as the engine
and three cars, plus a caboose, went around the track.
I felt a
horrible sense of guilt as I returned home. The tanker car no longer
appealed to me. Suddenly, I took the tanker car in my hand, plus an
additional car of my own, and ran all the way down to Gale Street and proudly
announced to Mark, “We forgot to bring two cars which belong to your train.”
I
don’t know when a deed had made me feel any better than that experience as a
ten-year old boy.
The
best way to feel the Spirit of Christmas and enjoy the season is to give! And
what better way to give then to give of yourself with service. This Christmas
we have all been encouraged to “Light the World” by serving others every day.
If you haven’t started this challenge yet, do so today it is never to late.
Even if you only are able to do it one or two days out of the week, it will
change your Christmas season into a much more meaningful one. There is no
better way to celebrate Christmas then this. So get out there and give of
yourselves. I know that when you do the true meaning of Christmas will always
be with you.
Love,
Sister Heather Olsen.
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