Aimee K
Background
In 2008, if you recall, there was a recession. The housing market was crashing and people were abandoning their mortgages. The financial woes extended into every sector, and my husband, who was working as a general contractor at the time, also felt the crunch as the construction work dried up. We had four children at the time, all under the age of 7. We had a healthy savings, but it whittled down to a bare bones situation by Christmas. We did not have the means to buy any Christmas presents that year. And I know what some of you may be thinking, “Just put it on a credit card!” Those were all topped out with our small business material expenses, invoice net 30 and a bank exception hold on big checks.
My husband’s love language is gift giving and he was devastated. Despite all his best effort, hard labor and grind, we had no money available to buy presents in time for Christmas. However, what manifest out of this impossible situation was a gift that has blessed our family for the last 17 years.
The rest of this blogpost will just be a copy/paste of my homespun unpublished children’s book that I’ve been reciting to my children every year since. The story is told from the perspective of my then 3 year old daughter, Elle.
Note: The scripture references and gospel discussion have been updated from the 2008 original (LDS).
Introduction
Daddy had been out of work for 6 months and was overwhelmed as we approached the holiday season. He felt like a failure because we could not afford to buy any Christmas presents for our family.
Knowing how important it was for him to have gifts under the tree Momma went around the house and wrapped different items that we already had for us to open on Christmas morning.
Momma wrote a letter to Daddy explaining what she had done.
The illusion of X-mas has taken hold on people’s hearts and been the source of much disappointment and emptiness precisely because Christ has been taken out of it. The central figure of this holiday, HOLY DAY, of celebration has all but been forgotten. The season has instead turned into a time where people are rushing frantically, burdened under unnecessary stress and impulsive debt. The Redeemer has been replaced with fairy-tale figures illuminated by artificial lights, bearing temporary and perishable gifts. The true gifts of Jesus’ life and sacrifice cannot be wrapped, cannot be bought and will not tarnish. We give gifts to one another in emulation of the wise men who followed the star; who bore gold, frankincense and myrrh. Similarly, our earthly gifts stand only as a tangible reminder of our love for one another. But the gifts that Christ gave the wise men, and each of us, stand in unparalleled superiority. Although the gifts of Christ cannot be wrapped, symbols of these gifts CAN be! So, this Christmas our love for one another will instead be the time we spend together unwrapping presents representing the Gifts of Christ.
On Christmas morning we were SO excited to see all of the beautifully wrapped presents under the Christmas tree. Christmas morning breakfast we were full of breathless anticipation of what could be inside the beautiful gifts.
Momma said that each person could choose a present and we would all watch to see what was inside.
Empty Bread Pan
Momma chose the first present on behalf of baby Garrett. It was so exciting! She carefully unwrapped the box and gently took out a glass bread pan. We had seen this bread pan many times before.
We turned it over in our hands to see what was so special about this same old bread pan but Momma got up and walked into the kitchen to get a bowl. She set the bowl in front of us and we amazed at the size of the rising dough inside. “This is like Jesus’ life,” she explained; “Full of hope and promise. His disciples were anticipating that His return to Jerusalem would usher in His kingdom. They thought he would conquer the Roman oppressors and free Israel as rightful King of the Jews.”
We listened with great interest but then Momma did something completely unexpected! She suddenly punched the dough down and it fell deflated under the sudden swift blow.
“The apostles didn’t fully understand what was going to happen so his arrest came as a shock. Roman soldiers arrested Jesus at night, which was against the law. They beat Him and scourged Him. They mocked him and spit on him. They nailed him to a cross and killed him.“
Momma’s dough lay in the bowl beaten and small and I felt sadness for what Jesus went through. Momma told us how his friends were given his body, and they wrapped him in linen and laid him in the tomb. She gently rolled the beaten dough and placed it the bread pan. We all walked together to the oven as she placed it inside. We closed the oven and Momma said that this was like the tomb where Christ was laid. I felt sadness as we walked away.
Candlestick
Ethan got to pick the next present. Inside was a candlestick and candles from the hutch. Momma passed out candles to each of us.
Momma lit her candle explaining, “Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He told us,
I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’ (John 8:12 KJV, see also T&C 93:2 RE).
“Once our candles have been lit with the light of gospel truth, we should pass it on. A lit candle can share its light without diminishing itself. The more we share our light the brighter the world becomes.“
Momma lit Ethan’s candle and instructed him to light Hunter’s candle. We went around in a circle lighting each other’s candles until they were all lit. Carefully, she placed each candle in a candlestick on the dining room table.
Momma opened the scriptures and read,
Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to all that are in the house. Therefore, let your light so shine before this world, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.
Matt. 5: 15 KJV
“We let out light shine when we serve those around us. When we give of ourselves; our time, and especially our talents…that’s when our light shines” continued Momma.
Then we all went around in a circle and shared a talent we each have. Momma said baby Garrett’s talent was making people smile.
Fruit
I was invited to open the next present. I chose a big box and carefully pulled back the golden wrapping paper.
Inside the box I found a bunch of bright orange tangerines that we had picked off of Grandma Diane’s front tree. They were perfectly ripe and deliciously juicy. Momma began retelling the story of Lehi’s dream from the Book of Mormon.
“Nephi told us that the fruit was ‘most precious and most desirable’ and the ‘greatest of all the gifts of God’ (1Ne 4:6 RE). But then in the Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 it says that eternal life is the greatest of all the gifts of God. What does that tell us about the fruit from Lehi’s dream?” Momma asked everyone.
Ethan’s hand shot up.
“Does it mean that the fruit is eternal life?”
“That’s right, Ethan. The fruit is a symbol of eternal life,” Momma smiled.
Momma opened one of the tangerines and broke a section open. She pulled a seed out of the middle of the and held it up between her fingers.
“Can anyone tell me how this seed might be important?” she asked everyone.
Daddy spoke up this time,
“I believe that the seed is like the word or the truth of the gospel. It’s something we tend and take care of through our faith. As we take care of it, meaning we do what the gospel teaches, the seed grows and grows. We have faith when we tend the seed. It’s faith because you are acting on your belief that it will grow. But just believing that the seed will grow won’t do anything. YOU have to plant it, water it, tend and take care of it. When the seed sprouts and grows up into a tree, then you have knowledge. Which is very different than just believing something is true.”
Momma beamed at Daddy!
“That’s right! In fact in Alma 16:30 it says, ‘But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.’ When we are faithful and follow the commandments, eventually we can know that the seed or the word was good.”
Keys
Hunter got to pick the next present. He chose a small red box with a white bow. It made a tinkling sound when he moved it. Inside the small box were two sets of keys. I recognized them as Momma and Daddy’s.
Holding them up to see she explained,
“There are two sets of keys because there are two priesthoods that qualified and worthy men may have: the Aaronic, or preparatory priesthood, and the Melchizedek priesthood.”
T&C 141:41 Verily I say unto you, I now give unto you the offices belonging to my Priesthood, that you may hold the keys thereof, even the Priesthood which is after the order of Melchizedek, which is after the order of my Only Begotten Son.
Matt 9:1 (RE) And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.
T&C 82:12 And this greater Priesthood administers the gospel and holds the key of the mysteries of the Kingdom, even the key of the Knowledge of God.
Rod of Iron
And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron which my father had seen was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life, which waters are a representation of the love of God.
1 Nephi 3:10 (RE)And they said unto me, What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw that led to the tree? And I said unto them that it was the word of God, and that whoso would hearken unto the word of God and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish, neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always, in all things.
1 Nephi 4:5 (RE)
“The rod of iron is like a handrail that helps guide us along the path that will lead us back to Heavenly Father. Even when we can’t see the way, if we hold on we will still know which way to go.“
Water
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever shall drink of this well shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4:3 (RE)
But, unto him that keeps my commandments, I will give the mysteries of my Kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life.
T&C 50:6
Jenedy Paige is an LDS author who described painting Jesus in the manger:
“Last year, I began to feel that I should attempt a Nativity painting. This of course was a very daunting idea, but I figured the best place to start was with research. I began with Luke 2:7,
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
I also came upon an article of archeologist, Jeffrey R. Chadwick, and found it eye opening and inspiring. Jeffrey R. Chadwick has worked in Israel as a researcher and field archaeologist for over thirty years, specializing in the backgrounds of biblical narratives.
He suggested that the manger would have most likely been carved out of white limestone, one of the most abundant natural resources in the Israelite region, and showed pictures of many similar mangers they have uncovered on archaeological digs.
And while we like to think of the baby, “asleep on the hay”, he also states that this was also unlikely, as grass was available on the hills surrounding Judea year round. They really would have had no need to store hay, and the mangers were most likely used for water.
Many of the concepts that we have of the Savior’s birth revolve around paintings of European artists from centuries ago. I’m sure they painted according to the best of their abilities and knowledge, but I also wondered why more modern painters had yet to illustrate these concepts.
As I’ve sketched and worked, my heart has been so full as I’ve uncovered this image. For when you take away the Hollywood drama, the traditions of centuries, and the wood and the hay, all you’re really left with is a babe in white linen on white stone.
And my mind immediately went to the purpose of the Savior’s life: He was born to die. He came as the sacrificial lamb for all mankind; so how fitting that He would begin his life on a stone altar of sorts, and be wrapped in white linen, like he would after His death. And of course He would be placed in a trough for water, for He would be Living Water, and would bring life to all. I also found myself weeping for the Father, and how it must have felt to see His Son begin life foreshadowing His death.
Mirror
Open mirror and pass it around having everyone look at their reflection.
And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your own countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?
Alma 3:3 REBehold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
John 1:13 RE
Comforter/Blanket
These words have I spoken to you while I am still present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost that the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and restore to your memory all truth I have taught to you, and the record of Heaven itself.
St John 10:15 (T&C)Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you- not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 9:9 RE
Momma wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. It felt soft and warm and so snuggly.
Kite String
And I give unto you a commandment that you shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that you shall live by every word that proceeds forth out of the mouth of God, for he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept. And he will try you and prove you herewith, and whoever lays down his life in my cause, for my name’s sake shall find it again, even life Eternal.
T&C 98:3Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh, and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the Devil, for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.
2 Nephi 1:10 (RE)
Daddy took the spool of string and we all followed him out into the front yard. He brought out the big red kite and connected it to the end of the line. Then he ran and launched it into the air. I’d seen him fly the kite many times before but this time he let me have a turn. He’d tell me to sweep this way and that. It was dancing in the sky! Momma asked if we’d like to see the kite go higher. We all shouted, HURRAY!
“How can we make it go higher, Elle?”
Eventually we’d let all the string out. My brothers were cheering and chasing the kite from below.
“Daddy, it wants to go higher! But we don’t have enough line! If we cut it the kite will dance even higher.”
Soon there were cheers to let the kite go.
“Children, the kite won’t go any higher if we cut the line,” he warned.
We begged him. We’d never tried it before. How could he know?
Momma nodded at him. So, Daddy got out his pocket knife and looked at Momma again. “They ought to know,” she relented. “But are you willing to do it?”
Daddy folded the line around the blade of his knife and pulled it through. The kite darted quickly to one side and jumped up with a gust of wind. Just as quickly, the nose turned down and before we could gasp it crashed into the ground breaking both frame and wings.
Our fun and excitement suddenly froze in shocked disbelief.
“I don’t understand. Why did it crash?”
Daddy got down on one knee down looking very sad explained, “The kite needed the line to stay up. Even though it may have felt like the kite was being restricted, the connection kept the kite in control and flying high.”
Looking at Momma he continued, “And that line is just like the commandments in our life. If we are obedient, we can reach our highest potential. Someday you might feel like the commandments are holding you down. But Heavenly Father gives us commandments to let us soar. Just like the kite.”
Phone
“If you were to go on a faraway trip and not see Mom and Dad for a very long time, how would that make you feel? What would make it better?
We can ‘call’ and talk to Heavenly Father anywhere, anytime for however long we need to through prayer.“
Behold, verily, verily I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation, for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; therefore, ye must always pray unto the Father in my name. And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.
3Ne 8:8 (RE)For if ye would hearken unto the spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always and not faint, that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
2Ne 14:3 (RE)
“There is never a busy signal and you always have 5 bars. But talking requires that we listen too. It’s not just one sided. How do we listen?”
And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. For truly I say unto you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet. And when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. But when you pray, use not vain repetition as the hypocrites, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Therefore, do not be like unto them. For your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.
Matt 3:28 (RE)Settle this therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to refute nor resist. And it shall be an opportunity for you to bear testimony.
Luke 12:15 (RE)And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about and we beheld the glory of the Son on the right hand of the Father and received of his fullness, and saw the holy angels and they who are sanctified before his throne worshiping God and the Lamb, who worship him for ever and ever.
T&C 69:4Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion, for all flesh is in my hands. Be still and know that I am God. Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered; they that remain and are pure in heart shall return and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.
T&C 101:3
Rock
The next present had Momma’s special rock inside.
“When I was little my family went to the Sacred Grove. All of the rocks that lined the pathway were black and perfectly smooth. I knew that river stones were polished smooth from having water rush over it. I thought the rocks were so smooth from so many people coming through, wanting to see the place where Jesus had been. I picked one up and took it home so that I would always have a piece of that sacred grove with me. It’s the one treasure that I’ve kept for more than 30 years. In the scriptures, Jesus is known as ‘The Rock.’ and reminds us that He is a sure foundation.”
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. The God of my rock, in him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence.
Samuel 10:2 (RE)Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual food, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:39 (RE)Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
3Ne 6:6 (RE)
Soap
Momma brought out a bowl full of mud. It was fun to squish our fingers through it and shape the soft brown mush. But Momma pointed out that now our hands were dirty and we couldn’t come to the dinner table. She opened the next present. Wrapped in the beautiful paper was a fresh new bar of soap.
Momma explained that the mud was like sin. It makes our hands dirty and we would be unfit to sit at the dinner table with unclean hands. Even when we think our hands are clean its important to wash before dinner because there are germs that we can’t see.
Behold, I will hasten my work in its time, and I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last Kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves. Yea, purify your hearts, and clean your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean, that I may testify unto your Father, and your God and my God, that you are clean from the blood of this wicked generation, that I may fulfill this promise, this great and last promise which I have made unto you, when I will.
Abide in the liberty wherewith you are made free. Entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean until the Lord come, for not many days hence, and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man, and the Sun shall hide his face and shall refuse to give light, and the Moon shall be bathed in blood, and the Stars shall become exceeding angry and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falls from off a fig tree.
T&C 86:13, 17
And now the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made. Therefore, God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.
Alma 19:14
Wherefore, I command you by my name, and by my Almighty power that you repent, repent lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore, how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I God have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer, if they would repent. But if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain and to bleed at every pore, to suffer, both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink. Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.
T&C 4:5
Bread
We started to smell fresh bread coming from the kitchen. But how? Momma led us all into the kitchen and opened the oven. The glass bread pan from earlier was now full of a big fluffy loaf of hot bread.
“Do you remember how the dough was punched down and small? Just like Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, the dough rose again!”
Truly, truly I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. But I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 5:16
We remember Jesus every time we take the sacrament. The bread is broken like his body. We remember his sacrifice.
And it came to pass that Jesus commanded his disciples that they should bring forth some bread and wine unto him. And while they were gone for bread and wine, he commanded the multitude that they should sit themselves down upon the earth. And when the disciples had come with bread and wine, he took of the bread, and brake and blessed it, and he gave unto the disciples and commanded that they should eat. And when they had eat and were filled, he commanded that they should give unto the multitude. And when the multitude had eaten and were filled, he said unto the disciples, Behold, there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it, and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name. And this shall ye always observe to do, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread and blessed it, and gave it unto you. And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body which I have shewn unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me, ye shall have my spirit to be with you.
3Ne 8:6 (RE)
But we can also remember that we have hope in His promise of a resurrection.
Now there is a death which is called temporal death, and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death; the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time.
Alma 8:16 (RE)
“Both of your grandpas died before you could really know them. But one day they will be resurrected, and we will all be together again.“
Grandma started crying, but I know it was just because she missed him. I got up and hugged her, “It’s Ok Grandma, you’ll see Papa again.”
We all sat down to have warm bread, with butter, milk and honey. It was just like heaven!
All of the gifts had been opened. We got SO many presents! We’d spent all morning opening presents and talking about Jesus. It was one of the best Christmases ever! And the next year when Daddy could buy us new toys, we still wanted to open all of the Gifts of Christ first. It’s been my favorite part of Christmas ever since.
Based on a True Story 2008
