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...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 20th Day Christmas Past
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...
Read MoreANSWER and WINNER 19th Day Christmas Past
On the 19th Day of Christmas Past, Howard W. Hunter and his sister would “hookybobbing” ride, having the wind blow their “pushmobile” sail along the roadside. Pres. Hunter and his sister had lots of fun riding on their “pushmobile” that they attached a sail to which would blow them down the road. They called it “hookybobbing”, story still available on yesterday’s 19th Day post. Congrats to 19th Day drawing winner, Sheron Morrell, who won a set of olive wood Christmas tree ornaments from...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 19th Day Christmas Past
On the 19th Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be: 19. Which Latter-Day Prophet went “hookybobbing” with his sister? “It was a cold year in Boise the year Howard turned eleven, but the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve warmed him up. “We used real candles, which fit into holders that clipped onto the branches,” he recalled. “Father kept two buckets filled with water, so that if the tree caught fire, he’d be able to put it out quickly. He always made sure the candles were out before he left home.” Writing in his journal, Howard listed the Christmas gifts he received that year – a sled, a Scout knife, a tie, a heavy coat, and a battery. That day he and his sister went “hookybobbing.” To go hookybobbing, Howard would fix a big sail to his “pushmobile” and take it out on the snow-covered raod, where the wind would push it along, giving his sister and him an exciting ride. The Christmas dinner his mother prepared seemed to him a feast. With a grateful heart he summed up the day in his journal: “We had everything good there was,” he said. It was an altogether perfect Christmas. Try one of your favorite childhood Christmas traditions or come up with a new one for a child this year. Taken from: Laura Willes, Christmas with the Prophets, p....
Read MoreANSWER and WINNER 18th Day Christmas Past
On the 18th Day of Christmas Past, through a dream by John Macfarlane, a new carol choir was created – Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains. Macfarlane wanted a new Christmas carol for a Christmas program and couldn’t get anything to work until one night he woke up from a dream that had music and words to the new carol he immediately then wrote. Story still available on yesterday’s blog post. Congrats to 18th Day drawing winner, Susie Amini, who won a Nauvoo Sun Stone...
Read More
Recent Comments