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 MoreQuestion and Story 18th Day Christmas Past
Only one week left!! On the 18th Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be: 18. Which LDS Christmas hymn came to the author/composer through a dream? In a biography called Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, written and privately printed by his descendant L. W. Macfarlane, we learn the family tradition surrounding the writing of this carol. John Macfarlane was a choir director in St. George, Utah. “As involved as he was in music,” the biography tells us, “John M. Macfarlane even dreamed music, and more than once, it is said, he would spring from his bed in the middle of the night to jot down a melody, lest the light of morning should erase it from his memory.” In the preholiday season of 1869, he decided his choir needed a new carol for their Christmas program. At his request, his friend Charles L. Walker provided a suitable text. But John Macfarlane labored in vain for a suitable melody; the music just would not come. The biography continues: “Then one night it came, suddenly, in a dream. John was awake instantly. He shook Ann [his wife] into wakefulness, crying out, ‘Ann, Ann, I have the words for a song, and I think I have the music too!’ ” He found the next morning that the words he had written were in fact quite different from Charles L. Walker’s text. Even so, he urged Charles Walker to put his name down as author, but the biography gives this as Walker’s reply: “These are not my words, John. I have never seen them before. These are your words. You have written both the words and music yourself, and you must take the full credit.” We have no record of Walker’s original words, and no way of knowing how close to our present text were the lines that served as a catalyst for Macfarlane. He wrote no other hymn texts—music was his talent. The tune name honors Macfarlane’s wife, Ann Chatterley. Visitors to the Holy Land know that Judea’s shepherds herded their sheep on rocky hills rather than on plains. But this error in topography, made by one who had never traveled to Bethlehem, certainly does nothing to diminish the significance of this Latter-day Saint hymn. “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” was first published in the Juvenile Instructor on December 15, 1889, twenty years after it was written. John Macfarlane and Charles L. Walker collaborated on other hymns, of which “Dearest Children, God Is Near You” (no. 96) is still in our hymnal today. Taken from: Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages, p....
Read MoreANSWER and WINNER 17th Day Christmas Past
On the 17th DAY of Christmas Past, our Church welfare program eventually came to be, from organizing the whole church like the Pioneer Stake was by Harold B. Lee. Harold B. Lee was Stake President of the Pioneer Stake. Over 5,000 of his stake members were out of jobs. He organized things so that all of the families in need would be taken care of for Christmas. Read the whole story on the yesterday’s previous post. Congrats to 17th Day drawing winner, Melanie Sullivan, who won an ornament with the Kirtland Temple painted on...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 17th Day Christmas Past
On the 17th Day of Christmas Past, the QUESTION is to be – 17. What was Harold B. Lee asked to help with after organizing Christmas for more than half of his stake during the depression? “It was Christmas 1931 and Harold B. Lee was serving as a new stake president in the Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake City. The country was in the early years of terrible economic times, now called the Great Depression. His stake had more than seven thousand members, and close to 60% of them were out of work. Few had any money to buy food and other necessities. Many people were facing dire circumstances. But the Lee family had been blessed. That Christmas they enjoyed opening their gifts and feeling all the excitement of a wonderful holiday. Later that morning, two of the Lee’s daughters dashed to the neighbor’s house to share their excitement, but they soon came home crying. “What in the world is the matter?” asked their father. The girls said that the neighbor family had no Christmas! President Lee had forgotten the needs of the family and that the father had been out of work for a long time. The Lee family “tried to make up for [their] lack of thoughtfulness” by sharing what they had, but it seemed too little too late. With others around them in want, their own Christmas was spoiled. Pres. Lee was unhappy about that Christmas, and he didn’t sleep well afterward because he was worried about all the families in his stake. He felt that somehow he had let them down. That night as he knelt in prayer, he said, “God grant that I would never let another year pass but that I, as a leader, will ‘know’ my people. I would know their needs. I would be feeling after the ones who needed most my leadership.” By the time the next Christmas arrived, Pres. Lee was prepared. He had conducted a survey among stake members and found that more than half needed help – almost 5,000 people out of more than seven thousand. He found out that this number included a thousand children under ten years of age who would probably receive little or nothing for Christmas. Armed with this information and with time to solve the problem, he determined that this Christmas would be different. Before December even arrived, Pres. Lee had mobilized all the members of the stake and created a stake welfare program. They began to collect money, food, and broken and used toys. Everything was stored in a warehouse. That warehouse became like Santa’s workshop as parents in the stake donated time and work to repaint, repair, and clean the toys and make them like new. Stake members sewed new clothing and repaired furniture, worked on construction projects, and helped farmers with their crops. Pres. Lee said, “If you wanted...
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