On the 23rd Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be:
23.  Heber J. Grant, during Christmas time, had two experiences being cold.  What were the reasons?

Read the two accounts below:

Heber shivered in his thin coat as the cold November wind whipped around him. All he really wanted for his birthday was a warm overcoat, but he knew that asking for one would upset his mother. He remembered how she had cried the Christmas before because she didn’t have enough money to buy him even a stick of candy.

Nine days after Heber was born, his father had died and his mother had moved him from the fine house where he had been born to a small one where they lived for many years. The roof leaked and sometimes they went to bed early because there was no coal for heat. Sometimes they went to bed hungry, for the fried bread hadn’t been sufficient supper and there was no money for anything else.

There were days and nights when Heber’s mother would sew and sew even though she was really too tired to finish a dress for a customer. Then Heber would go under the sewing machine and push the pedal up and down so that his mother’s tired legs might have a rest. As they worked together in the lamplight, she would tell him stories and they would plan together for the time they would have plenty of coal, food, and all the clothes one could wear. Neither of them dreamed that one day Heber J. Grant would be the seventh President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

November 22 dawned clear and cold. “Happy birthday, Heber,” called his mother as she handed him the most beautiful coat Heber had ever seen. It was made of material his mother had been sewing, and it fit him perfectly. He hugged it to himself and could hardly wait to go out in the cold day and feel its warmth about him.

A few weeks later, around Christmas, as Heber was hurrying on an errand he saw a boy just his size who was crying with cold. The boy was wearing a thin sweater, and Heber shivered, even though he had on his new overcoat.

As Heber hurried by, the crying boy looked at his coat with such longing that almost before he knew what he was doing, Heber had stopped, taken off the coat, and insisted that the boy wear it.

That very afternoon his mother saw Heber wearing his old coat instead of the new one. “Heber,” she called, “what have you done with your lovely new overcoat?”

For just a moment he wondered how he could tell her he had given it away. He wondered what she would say. He hoped she wouldn’t cry. “Oh, Mother,” he finally explained, “I saw a boy who needed it lots worse that I did, so I just gave it to him.”

“Couldn’t you have given him your old one?” she asked.

Heber longed to have her understand, and yet he despaired of her doing so. And then he looked up anxiously into her face. Her eyes were misty with tears, and he threw his arms around her as she answered her own question, “Of course, you couldn’t, Heber; of course, you couldn’t.”

See a sweet illustration of this story can be watched at this link: cp3IH8ZNviQ

Another story of Heber J. Grant being cold in “A Sleigh Ride Surprise”.

Snow lay deep over Salt Lake Valley. When the children became tired of playing in it, they would dare each other to wait for a sleigh to come by so they might catch a ride on its runners.

The most beautiful sleigh in all the valley was one owned by Brighman Young. Nearly every afternoon he would go for a ride in it while his coachman guided a fine team of horses over the frozen ground.

Six-year-old Heber often watched this sleigh and dreamed of someday riding on its runners. They stuck out so far behind the rest of the carriage that he thought them a perfect place on which to stand and ride. One day as he watched the sleigh, it slowed down to go around a corner. Heber was so close to it, he was able to jump onto the runners before it began to speed again.

At first it was exciting fun to ride throuh the crisp air as the horses tossed their heads and the sleigh bells tinkled merrily. Heber thought he would go only a few blocks and then when the horses slowed down, he would hop off and hurry home. But the animals did not slacken their speed. They ran swiftly through the town and beyond it into the country. Heber was nearly breathless as the bitter wind and snow whirled around him. His teeth chattered with cold and fear as he prayed that he might get back home safely. He shivered at the thought of what Brigham Young might say and do if he found a boy riding on the runners of his sleigh.

When the horses had gone more than five miles, they came to a frozen stream and slowed down at last to make their way across it. Heber jumped off and started racing back toward town. He had gone only a short way when he heard a kind voice call, “Stop!Stop, little boy. You are almost frozen. Come, get warm under my buffalo robe and then we’ll take you home.”

This moment was one Heber J. Grant never forgot. It was his first meeting with Brigham Young, the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Heber became its seventh President!

Taken from:  Leon R. Hartshorn, comp., Inspiring Stories for Young Latter-day Saints p. 48, 183 – 184; and Children’s Friend, February 1963 & 1966.

On the 22nd Day of Christmas past from Clarissa Young’s memory, The Christmas celebration took on more & more gaiety!

Story still available on yesterday’s 22nd Day Question and Story post.

Congrats to 22nd Day drawing winner, Robert Berrett, who won a Nauvoo Temple Sun Stone ornament!

On the 22nd Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be:
22.  After getting settled in the Salt Lake Valley, how were the children able to celebrate Christmas?

Read Clarissa Young’s memory of Christmas during this time:

“Simple as our celebrations were, our elders were fond of reminding us how very much more fortunate we were than the children of two decades earlier when a good square meal was ample cause for celebrating any day in the year.  Within the short space of three years the population of the city had increased to thousands, and the Christmas celebration took on a still greater air of gaiety. A brass band paraded up and down the streets, with the players mounted on horseback. They serenaded at Father’s house as well as the homes of other Church leaders. All the toys were home made, the ads in the paper carrying no mention of commercial playthings. However, if a husband wished to delight his wife with a new bonnet on Christmas morning, there was Mrs. A. Smith, “Late of St. Louis,” who advertised a superior assortment of velvet, silk, satin, and straw bonnets, and a variety of fancy goods and millinery.

For days before Christmas I would slip into the family store, north of the Beehive House, and watch John Haslam tie up little square packages of nuts and raisins during his spare time. It was doubly worth my while because I could always count on his slipping me a lump of sugar or some other tasty bit while he was working. We would receive these nuts and raisins on Christmas morning along with vinegar and molasses candy that the girls had made and an abundance of “store” candy—gumdrops and peppermint sticks.

There was no tree in our home, for at that time the Christmas tree had not even come into general use in the East, but we always hung up our stockings, and every child received one toy and some clothing. We girls would receive knitted scarves, nubias (headdresses), mittens, shoes, stockings, garters, and wristers. John Spencer’s first present to me was a pair of silk knitted wristers for which he had spent an entire week’s wages. I nearly died of humiliation when a young nephew said scornfully right in his presence, “Is that all you brought her?” Some of us younger girls once received some red cashmere hoods that Mother’s sister had made for us. They were made with a pointed cape in the back and trimmed with white swansdown and would have been rather pretty except that they had been lined with green cambric and tied with green ribbons because they were the only materials available in the house. As it was, they were a dreadful mixture of colors, and I hated them vehemently.

The boys would often receive new capes for Christmas, those being the outer garment most commonly worn. My brother Ernest, who was a big, husky fellow and didn’t feel the cold very much, would wear his about his waist in skirt fashion to the great amusement of the rest of us.

For Christmas toys the boys would get swords, drums, guns, and skates while we girls would be made happy with wooden-headed dollies. The heads were turned in our own carpenter shop, then painted and sewed onto cloth bodies. When the dolls were finished they would be beautifully dressed by our diligent mothers. There was a Betsy Long who had a shop on Main Street where she made lovely wooden dolls, and conveniently near by was a woman basketmaker who could make equally fine bassinets.”

Taken from:  Clarissa Young Spencer, Brigham Young at Home, p. 184 - 185.

On the 21st Day of Christmas Past, George Albert Smith’s family had hardly anything, but found amazing Christmas blessings that paying tithing could bring!

Story still available on yesterday’s 21st Day Question and Story post.

Congrats to 21st Day drawing winner, Ryan Jenkins, who won an olive puzzle depicting the nativity from Jerusalem!

On the 21st Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be: What kind of Christmas did George Albert Smith’s family have one year when he was very sick?

Read the story below:

“One Christmas was especially memorable and provided a valuable teaching moment for the children.  George Albert Smith had been struggling with a long illness that year.  The family budget was stretched, and his wife, Lucy, was worried that she would not be able to provide the sort of Christmas they were used to and still pay the tithing that had accumulated because of her husband’s illness.

She debated over the tough decision – gifts and holiday dinner for the children, or a tithing receipt marked “paid in full.”  In the end, though, she knew that she could not neglect to pay her tithing, and before she could change her mind she hurried to the bishop to make the payment.

As she walked home through the snow, her heart was heavy with the dread of the children’s disappointment.  But as she neared her house, a neighbor unexpectedly stopped her and said, “Just a moment, Sister Smith.  I have been thinking that your expenses have been exceedingly heavy during Brother Smith’s long illness, so I should like very much to have you take this little gift and buy yourself something very special for Christmas.”  Overcome with emotion, she tried to thank him, stuffed the check he had given her in her pocket, and rushed home, her heart pounding with joy and thanksgiving.  At home she was astounded to see that the check was for the exact amount as she had paid in tithing.  Because of the generosity of a neighbor, the Smith Christmas celebration was assured that year.

On Christmas morning, Lucy told the children that this was their “tithing Christmas,” and she impressed upon their minds the rich blessings that come from being honest with the Lord.”

Our blessings don’t always come in just this way but blessings definitely come through paying tithing.  Are we giving the Savior a tithing “marked in full” this year?  Is there someone that we need to follow a prompting, to be their blessing from the Lord?

Taken from:  Laura Willes, Christmas with the Prophets, p. 78.

On the 20th Day of Christmas Past, Gordon B. Hinckley every year would make a special gift that his family would treasure so dear.

Story still available on yesterday’s 20th Day Question and Story post.

Congrats to 20th Day drawing winner, Kimberly Willey-Panter, who won an olive wood ornament of the Holy Family from Jerusalem!

On the 20th Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be:
20.  Which Latter-Day Prophet made Christmas special for his brothers and sisters by making special Christmas presents for them?

“Gordon B. Hinckley grew up in a home where Christmas was celebrated in “grand fashion.”  Not much money was spent, but everyone worked hard to share Christmas joy with others.  In this effort, Gordon’s parents led the way.  During much of the time he was growing up, his father, Bryant, served as stake president of the Liberty Stake.  Gordon watched his mother, year after year, spend weeks before Christmas baking bread and making her special divinity.

After all the preparations were complete, his parents would visit the home of every widow in the stake and bring them gifts of bread and treats as well as Christmas cheer.  This wasn’t a small effort.  There were between eighteen and twenty thousand members of the Liberty Stake.  But Gordon’s parents tried to remember every widow.  So it was only natural that their children would also learn that the best gifts you can give at Christmas are gifts of your hands and your heart.

Young Gordon found many ways to do this.  The Hinckley home didn’t have a fireplace, so how could Santa come down the chimney?  Gordon solved the problem.  Each year he built a temporary Christmas fireplace.  After he had constructed a wooden frame, he neatly wrapped it in heavy paper printed to look like bricks.  He placed real logs in the fireplace opening and tucked a small electric light behind the logs to give the semblance of a fire.  It was on this fireplace mantel, reconstructed each holiday season, that Gordon, his younger brother, Sherm, and their three younger sisters always hung their stockings on Christmas Eve.

Gordon, following his parents’ example, spent much time and effort to make Christmas special for his sisters, Ruth, Ramona, and Sylvia.  He had help from his brother.  Both boys were handy with a saw and hammer.  Their first collaboration was a pony cart (they called it a “go-cart”), which they hitched to a horse and rode all over the East Millcreek farm where they lived in the summertime.  It was only natural that they would use their talents to bless other members of their family.

As Christmas approached, the boys would slip downstairs to the cellar at odd times on a special mission.  In the cellar sat a large coal-burning furnace that heated the home, but there was also a small workplace where tools were kept.  For weeks, in secrecy and anticipation, the boys worked away on Christmas projects as special gifts for their sisters.  After each work session the projects were  tucked behind the big furnace, where no one could see them.  One year they made a child-size cupboard.  Another year it was a green table and chairs.  A small, yellow treasure chest appeared on Christmas morning.  On another Christmas, a child-size desk with a fancy chair appeared under the tree.  Hardly a Christmas passed without beautiful handmade gifts for the girls.  And how exciting it was for them to see what their brothers had made each year.  Because Gordon and Sherm became skilled, these gifts showed a definite talent for woodwork and were useful and treasured for many years.  Some still survive today.  They were gifts of the hands and the heart to be cherished.”

What could you give as a gift of your hands and heart?

Taken from:  Laura Willes, “Christmas with the Prophets”, p. 154-156.