Posted by admin on Dec 19, 2019 in Christmas Past 2019 | 9 comments

On the 8th Day of Christmas Past,  Question: What is the history behind the tradition of Christmas gingerbread houses? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog.  Click Here for contest rules. “Gingerbread and the shapes it takes have a long history. An early form of gingerbread can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians who used it for ceremonial purposes. Ginger root was first cultivated in ancient China, where it was commonly used as a medical treatment. From there it spread to Europe via the Silk Road. During the Middle Ages it was favored as a spice for its ability to disguise the taste of preserved meats. Henry VIII is said to have used a ginger concoction in hopes of building a resistance to the plague. Even today we use ginger as an effective remedy for nausea and other stomach ailments. According to Rhonda Massingham Hart’s Making Gingerbread Houses, the first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC. Chinese recipes were developed during the 10th century and by the late Middle Ages, Europeans had their own version of gingerbread. Gingerbread made an appearance in Europe when 11th-century Crusaders brought back ginger from the Middle East for the aristocrats’ cooks to experiment with. The hard cookies, sometimes gilded with gold leaf and shaped like animals, kings and queens, were a staple at Medieval fairs in England, France, Holland and Germany. Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the idea of decorating the cookies in this fashion, after she had some made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. Over time some of these festivals came to be known as Gingerbread Fairs, and the gingerbread cookies served there were known as ‘fairings’ or tokens of love. The shapes of the gingerbread changed with the season, including flowers in the spring and birds in the fall. Elaborately decorated gingerbread became synonymous with all things fancy and elegant in England. The gold leaf that was often used to decorate gingerbread cookies led to the popular expression ‘to take the gilt off of gingerbread.’ The carved, white architectural details found on many colonial American seaside homes is sometimes referred to as ‘gingerbread work’. Gingerbread is considered an art form in Nuremberg, Ulm, and Pulsnitz in Germany, Torun in Poland, Tula in Russia, Pest in Hungary, Pardubice and Prague in the Czech Republic, and Lyon in France where gingerbread baking guilds were sanctioned by the government starting in the Middle Ages. Gingerbread houses originated in Germany during the 16th century. The elaborate cookie-walled houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas tradition. Their popularity rose when the Brothers Grimm wrote the story of Hansel and Gretel, in which the main characters stumble upon a house made entirely of treats deep...

Posted by admin on Dec 19, 2019 in Christmas Past 2019 |

Answer 7th Day Christmas Past: Any desires two boys had for themselves were quieted by their even greater desire to find vital gifts for others.   Congrats to 7th Day drawing winner, ELIZABETH SADERUP, who won “It’s Not About the Bunny, It’s About the Lamb” booklet by Ron Millburn, Nauvoo Temple angel hanger, two Nauvoo Temple painting prints by Al Rounds, and MHA notebook, value $73! 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...

Posted by admin on Dec 18, 2019 in Christmas Past 2019 | 9 comments

On the 7th Day of Christmas Past,  Question: How were two boys content with what little they had, even when stores beckoned them to want more? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog.  Click Here for contest rules. “The Christmas Shoppers” “The stores were bright with the glitter of Christmas and filled with exciting games and gadgets, and with warm and appealing clothing to tempt Timmy, age nine, and his seven-year-old brother Billy who, with Mr. Smith, were doing their Christmas shopping. They had gone from store to store, looking at many possible gifts and then always shaking their heads when a clerk asked if she could help them.  Billy had almost bought a game he wanted, and Timmy had paused an unusually long time before a display of books, but after whispered consultation with each other, the boys had decided in each case to look further.  Finally impatient, Mr. Smith asked, “Where would you suggest we look next?” He was a member of a club that each year helped to make Christmas happier for poor families.  He had given Timmy and Billy each $4.00 and had taken them shopping for gifts they especially wanted. “Could we go to a shoe store, sir?” asked Timmy.  “We’d like a pair of shoes for our dad.  He hasn’t any to wear when he gets better and can go back to work.” When they reached the shoe store.  Billy pulled something out of his pocket and  handed it to Timmy, who smoothed a crumbled piece of brown paper before giving it to the clerk and explaining it was a pattern of their Dad’s foot.  They had carefully drawn it while their father slept in a chair one evening.  The clerk studied the pattern and then walked away.  He returned in a few minutes, held out a box holding a pair of shoes, and asked, “Will these do?” The shoes were so beautiful that the boys almost held their breath.  Then Timmy saw the price on the box.  “We only have $8.00,” he said, disappointed, “and these shoes are $16.95.” The clerk cleared his throat.  “They have been,” he answered, “but they’re on special today for Christmas gifts.  They’ll cost you just $3.98, and you’ll have money left over for something for yourselves.” “Not for us,” the boys exclaimed, “but we can get something for our mother and our two little sisters.  Thank you, oh, thank you, sir!” Over the boys’ heads, the clerk and Mr. Smith exchanged meaningful looks.  But Timmy and Billy, excited at being able to buy presents for the rest of the family, paid no attention to the men.  They could hardly wait to finish their Christmas shopping.” Taken from:  Reading, Lucille, “The Christmas Shoppers,” Children’s Friend, Dec 1969, p....

Posted by admin on Dec 18, 2019 in Christmas Past 2019 |

Answer 6th Day Christmas Past: We can draw closer to Christ as we learn of Him through scriptures, prayer, service, & testimony. Congrats to 6th Day drawing winner, ERROL N HOLLIE BEVAN, who won a Holy Family palm tree olive wood carving from Bethlehem, Nauvoo Temple framed photo, Nauvoo Temple star window suncatcher/ornament, and MHA notebook, value $130! 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...

Posted by admin on Dec 17, 2019 in Christmas Past 2019 | 13 comments

On the 6th Day of Christmas Past,  Question: How can we readily recognize our Savior as these individuals did not long after Christ was born? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog.  Click Here for contest rules. “More than something we bear on fast Sunday, a testimony moves us to action and defines our way of living.  A testimony of the promised Messiah carried Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, gave humble shepherds ears to hear the angels, and sent wise men from the East in search of a new star.  Likewise, the testimonies of Simeon and Anna led them to frequent the temple.  But Simeon and Anna never seem to be included in the Christmas story.  According to tradition, just about 40 days after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph took their infant son to the temple to participate in ceremonial offerings.  The wise men were still following the new star and had not yet seen the newborn King when Simeon and Anna beheld Him in the temple. In one sense, Simeon and Anna were similar to what we call temple workers.  Even in their old age, they went to the temple often.  “When the parents [Mary and Joseph] brought in [to the temple] the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,” Simeon “took [the child] up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, …for mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:27-30).  Simeon immediately recognized the baby as the promised Messiah and praised God for the blessing of seeing Him.  A few moments later, Anna similarly approached the child and “gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption” (v. 38).  Straightway, she, too, recognized the babe as her Redeemer. This brief but telling encounter that Simeon and Anna had with Christ is a remarkable part of the nativity story.  Mary and Joseph did not introduce the baby as the Savior of all mankind, yet without any introduction or explanation, both of these elderly temple workers readily recognized the infant as their newborn King.  How marvelous were Simeon’s and Anna’s humility and spirituality to see in a baby their eternal salvation and consolation. Ironically, Christ Himself would later proclaim His own divinity, telling multitudes and individuals alike that He was their Savior, and yet many, then and now, failed to see Him for who He was – and who He still is.  A testimony of Jesus Christ is a priceless gift that can be reopened and enjoyed in the most meaningful ways every day of our life. Taken from:  Newell, Lloyd & Karmel.  “A Christmas Treasury – for Latter-day Saint Families”, p....