On the 10th Day of Christmas Past, rekindling history to enhance today’s Light the World – “For I was hungered and ye gave me meat.” Question: How were “those that were hungered” given meat in these two stories? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. “December 1856 (with the Martin handcart Company in Wyoming)” Recollections of the Past – Patience Loader Rozsa Archer “It was supper time and we were hungry and without food, when a good brother came to our campfire. He asked if mother had no husband and she told him her husband had died two months ago and was buried on the Plains. The brother had been standing with his hands behind him. He then handed us a nice piece of beef to cook for supper. He left and came back with a beef bone and said, ‘Here is a bone to make some soup, and don’t quarrel over it.’ Mother said, ‘oh brother, we never quarrel over short rations, but we are very thankful to you for giving us this meat, as we do not have any and have not expected any.'” From: Pioneer Christmas p. 38 “The Long Line of the Lonely” President Thomas S. Monson boyhood memories “I have many memories of my boyhood. Anticipating Sunday dinner was one of them. Just as we children hovered at our so-called starvation level and sat anxiously at the table, with the aroma of roast beef filling the room, Mother would say to me, “Tommy, before we eat, take this plate I’ve prepared down the street to Old Bob and hurry back.” I could never understand why we couldn’t first eat and later deliver his plate of food. I never questioned aloud but would run down to Bob’s house and then wait anxiously as his aged feet brought him eventually to the door. Then I would hand him the plate of food. He would present to me the clean plate from the previous Sunday and offer me a dime as pay for my services. My answer was always the same: “I can’t accept the money. My mother would tan my hide.” He would then run his wrinkled hand through my blond hair and say, “My boy, you have a wonderful mother. Tell her thank you.” You know, I think I never did tell her. I sort of felt Mother didn’t need to be told. She seemed to sense his gratitude. I remember, too, that Sunday dinner always seemed to taste a bit better after I had returned from my errand. Old Bob came into our lives in an interesting way. He was a widower in his eighties when the house in which he was living was scheduled to be demolished. I heard him tell my grandfather his plight...
Read More9th Day Christmas Past Question & Story
On the 9th Day of Christmas Past, rekindling history to enhance today’s Light the World – “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Question: In these short pioneer Christmas histories, how can our attitude change today about possessing an abundance? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. “Christmas In Gentile Valley” 1890’s personal history of Lydia Bennett Egbert, Gentile Valley (Thatcher), Idaho “What a spectacular sight it would be for today’s generation to look in upon a remote little group as they gathered for their Christmas celebration. Sleigh loads of people, snug in their quilts spread over a bed of hay, pulling into the Church-yard—men unhitching the teams and tying them to feed—women and children trudging through the snow and up the steps into the small one-room meetinghouse. And inside, the hearty hand-clasping and exchanging of greetings around the roaring hot fire. Men in stiff-front shirts and tight-legged trousers, standing comfortably with their backs to the stove and their hands clasped behind them, teetering on their toes and grinning from ear to ear in admiration of their charming females. Charming to be sure. On that day of all days, when every female was adorned in a new Christmas frock. Women, stiffly corseted, with their long flowing skirts were grouped about chatting merrily. Maidens with bustles and leg-of-mutton sleeves modestly portrayed their most elegant manner in hopes of attracting the gallant gents. Little girls, quaint in their new togs, strutted like peacocks. By one o’clock long tables, extending full length of the hall, had been set. Everyone feasted to their heart’s content. At two o’clock the old fiddle struck up its favorite, “Turkey In the Straw,” and, unable to resist, many of the oldsters chose partners and joined the children in their rollicking hoe-down.” From: Pioneer Christmas p. 7-8 “Wagon Wheel Stockings” Mary Jane Perkins Wilson Autobiography Dec 25, 1880 at Hole in the Rock, UT “It was here in ‘Hole in the Rock’ that we spent our first Christmas holidays. We children had no place only on the wagon wheels to hang our stockings. Nevertheless old St. Nicholas visited us with parched corn and some cookies which were baked in the dutch ovens. However everybody was happy. We spent most of the day gathering sagebrush to build fires at night to dance by. It was not of course on waxed floors, nor wearing various colored pumps, but it was on the sand rocks and some were barefooted. Brother Charles E. Walton was the orchestra. Sometimes he played the violin and other times the cornet.” From: Pioneer Christmas p. 22 “Clothespin Doll” 1886 from Willow Creek, Idaho James A Smith and his wife, Annie Sellars Smith, left their home in Utah and settled in Willow...
Read More8th Day Christmas Past Winner & Answer
Answer 8th Day Christmas Past: A young pioneer girl brought the gift of laughter to her family by making a costume for her sister’s dog to wear. Congrats to 8th Day drawing winner, Kay Peel, who won an Olive wood Holy Family carving & Christmas tree ornament! Please contact MHA office 801-272-5601 or info@mormonheritage.com within 30 days to arrange for how to receive your prize. Story still available on yesterday’s...
Read More8th Day Christmas Past Question & Story
On the 8th Day of Christmas Past, rekindling history to enhance today’s Light the World – “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.” Question: What unusual thing did a pioneer girl create to give her family gladness for Christmas? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. “Christmas Queen” From a Life Sketch of Lorena Eugenia Washburn Larsen – written Dec 25, 1867 in Manti, Utah When I was seven years old my sister Almeda lived across the street east, and a half a block south from our home. She had a small dog named “Queen”. It was a family pet. Christmas time was approaching and I longed to do something to add to the pleasure of that good holiday which everybody looks forward to expecting some fine surprise. When I racked my little brain trying to think out some way of getting a small gift for each one of our family. I finally knew that such a thing could not be done; then I thought I must do something which would start the day out with laughter, so I caught Queen, the little dog, and with mother’s measuring tape took the measurements of the length and circumference of her body, and the measure around her neck and head. I kept my plans a secret. I watched mother’s sewing basket, and saw some white material which I thought was suited to my needs, and after some persuasion mother said, “If you need it for something useful you can have it, but remember not to waste it because it is valuable.” My playhouse was in the attic, and there with needle, thread, the measuring tape and mother’s best scissors I worked with a will until I had completed a hat and dress or body covering for Queen. The hat was made of a round piece of material gathered to fit Queen’s head, with a ruffle almost two inches wide encircling the hat, and strings to tie it securely under her chin. (While making the outfit I was obliged to capture Queen and hold her down to fit the things to her body and head.) Her dress was a complete covering for her back and sides, from neck to tail, with the two in ruffle all around it and numerous matched tape strings to tie it underneath her neck, and body, and around each leg and her tail. Bright and early Christmas morning while the family was dressing, I ran to my sister’s home and got Queen, took her to my attic, and dressed her in her new costume. Oh what a comical sight she was, her little eyes filled with excitement peering out from under the ruffles of the white hat, and when I turned her loose in our living room she ran in circles,...
Read More7th Day Christmas Past Winner and Answer
Answer 7th Day Christmas Past: During World War I both opposing forces had a temporary truce and celebrated Christmas together by sharing friendship instead of fighting. Congrats to 7th Day drawing winner, Elizabeth Saderup, who won a Bethlehem baby blanket & Olive Wood ornament with a caravan of Olive Wood camels! Please contact MHA office 801-272-5601 or info@mormonheritage.com within 30 days to arrange for how to receive your prize. Story still available on yesterday’s...
Read More7th Day Christmas Past Question & Story
On the 7th Day of Christmas Past, rekindling history to enhance today’s Light the World – “Forgive men their trespasses.” Question: What temporary forgiveness was shown during Christmas over a century ago and is still seen as a miracle today? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. “Christmas Truce 1914” World War I Christmas Truce “On a crisp, clear morning over 100 years ago, thousands of British, Belgian and French soldiers put down their rifles, stepped out of their trenches and spent Christmas mingling with their German enemies along the Western front. In the hundred years since, the event has been seen as a kind of miracle, a rare moment of peace just a few months into a war that would eventually claim over 15 million lives. But what actually happened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1914 — and did they really play soccer on the battlefield? Pope Benedict XV, who took office that September, had originally called for a Christmas truce, an idea that was officially rejected. Yet it seems the sheer misery of daily life in the cold, wet, dull trenches was enough to motivate troops to initiate the truce on their own — which means that it’s hard to pin down exactly what happened. A huge range of differing oral accounts, diary entries and letters home from those who took part make it virtually impossible to speak of a “typical” Christmas truce as it took place across the Western front. To this day historians continue to disagree over the specifics: no one knows where it began or how it spread, or if, by some curious festive magic, it broke out simultaneously across the trenches. Nevertheless, some two-thirds of troops — about 100,000 people — are believed to have participated in the legendary truce. Most accounts suggest the truce began with carol singing from the trenches on Christmas Eve, “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere”, as Pvt. Albert Moren of the Second Queens Regiment recalled, in a document later rounded up by the New York Times. Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade described it in even greater detail: “First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.” The next morning, in some places, German soldiers emerged from their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. Allied soldiers came out warily to greet them. In others, Germans held up signs reading “You no...
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