Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: December 18, 2008 - # 8851b - Title:  Remembering our best Christmas (824)

One of our weekly papers recently ran a series of articles titled “My Favorite Christmas.” The stories were heart warming and caused me to ponder my past Christmases and wonder if there was indeed one that stood out a little more than the others.

            I thought back over the past 81 years and thought of those Christmases growing up in Michigan and of the Christmas gathering we always had at our or at a nearby relative’s home. This brought back many pleasant memories including remembering that no matter where we were on Christmas we always had to leave early to go home to milk the cows, by hand, separate the cream, slop the hogs and feed the chickens. Farm chores were a given – on Christmas or any other holiday.

I remembered that often the only thing we would get for Christmas would be an orange in our stocking, or a pair of socks, warm socks as they were needed and there was no money for any thing else.  But one particular Christmas during the middle of the depression stands out. It was the year my Uncle Glen gave me a three-bladed jack-knife. It was not only a practical gift, I could use it on the farm, but it was a toy, sort-of. It could be used to play mumbly-pegs with other boys. Mumbly-pegs was played by flipping the knife up in such a way that it landed with one or two of the blades stuck in a board. This was a far cry from the excitement generated by the computer games that children get for Christmas today.

For the past 40 years I have written a family Christmas letter while our mailing list continues to lengthen as our family grows. These Christmas letters have been a means of writing our family history and creating our traditions, and they have helped us record the children’s births, marriages, their children’s birth and marriages and now the births of our great grandchildren. They are records of how we shared with them our love of our Savior, of His teachings and of how His teachings have influenced our lives, and theirs, for good. Our family, after all, is our most priceless possession, our only possession that will transcend the ages.

But as I continued to ponder past Christmas I found that it was not a past Christmas that stood out but that it was always the upcoming Christmas that stood out. It was the preparations leading up to this gathering to celebrate the Savior’s birth, the thinking of someone other than self, as the Savior did, that has brought meaning and purpose to this special family gathering. We now begin our Christmas season by watching on TV an hour Christmas message from our top church leaders with music by the renowned Tabernacle Choir. Then on Christmas Eve we read Luke’s story of the Savior’s birth. This sets the stage to teach family members about His Life, His teachings, His service to others, His wiliness to die on the Cross to redeem the world, and His resurrection that will allow us to follow Him back into the presence of God.

A part of our preparation leading up to our annual Christmas family gathering is attending Sunday worship services and partaking of the sacrament in remembrance of His life and death while resolving to bring our lives more into harmony with His teachings and striving to become more dedicated in serving Him better through more service to family and our fellow man..

This year has been no exception. We have lunched with life long friends, made phone calls to distance siblings and attended events that raise money, such as FOCUS here in Cherokee County, to help the less fortunate and by offering a generous fast offering so the bishop can meet the needs of his flock’s needy. Then we simply wait for that glorious day to arrive so we can watch the faces of our great grandchildren as they open their presents and then climb into grandpa’s lap – which is more than enough to bring great joy.

Last Sunday added to this year being special as it was our first Christmas in our new chapel. The service was a powerful reminder of our Savior’s birth, life, death and resurrection in both word and song. The primary children set the stage with their beautiful and heart touching rendition of The Nativity Song.

Adding to the excitement of the season is our annual drive through Eagle Watch to look at and enjoy the Christmas decorations our neighbors’ exhibit around their homes. It truly is a wonderful time of the year as the Christian world prepares to celebrate the birth of their Savior, a birth followed by His teachings, His death on the Cross and the resurrection that provides hope to all in a cold and often heartless world.