On the 16th Day of Christmas Past, the best gift “Daddy” did get – Was his wife and children going without to pay off their debt. The Rich family decided to make it “Daddy’s Christmas” by going without presents and saving money any way they could to use for paying off their family’s debts during the end of the depression. Story still available at www.mormonheritage.com/blog/ on yesterday’s 16th day post. Congrats to 16th Day drawing winner, Christine Bennett, who won a bell shaped olive wood ornament of the Nativity from...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 16th Day of Christmas
On the 16th Day of Christmas Past the question is to be: 16. How did the Rich family make one of their Christmases “Daddy’s Christmas”? Read “Our Pickle-Jar Christmas” below by Wilma M. Rich: When I was a child, it seemed to me that Christmastime always began the day Daddy brought home the Christmas tree. But the year I was five, Christmas for the family began much earlier. Two months before Christmas on a cold October night, Mama rounded up her six children, including me, and sat us down in the long log room that served as kitchen, living room, and bedroom for the family. She lifted three-year-old Benny and me onto the high bed with the crazy-patch quilt and gathered the four older children around us. “Christmas is for surprises,” she began. “How would each of you like to make this a special Christmas by surprising Daddy?” Everyone agreed, and Benny and I squealed and clapped our hands at the prospect of treating Daddy, since he often had special surprises for us in his lunch bucket at the end of a workday. “Sh! Let’s talk quietly so Daddy won’t hear. He’s just on the other side of the door, remember.” We could hear Daddy hammering and sawing in the new living room he was adding onto the room we presently lived in. He was working at home on nights when he worked day shift at the coal mine and mornings when he worked night shift, trying to finish the room before Christmas so we could have our Christmas tree there. “You children know how hard Daddy works for us and how he worries about paying the bills?” Mama asked. The Great Depression was drawing to a close, and though we didn’t understand that, we did know that times were hard. The older children nodded, and taking a cue, I nodded, too, although I had no idea how much Daddy worked or worried. I didn’t even know what a bill was. Mama bent closer so she could speak quietly and make us all hear. “Since Daddy always makes Christmas so nice for us, I thought it would be fun to make this year Daddy’s Christmas.” Getting into the spirit of things, we nodded. We loved keeping secrets, especially a Christmas surprise. “What do you mean, Mama?” asked Sammy, who was two years older than I. “You may not want to surprise Daddy when you find out what I have in mind,” warned Mama. “Yes we will!” promised Eva, the eldest and most magnanimous. Mama continued, “Okay, but you don’t have to decide until I explain.” She quieted us again since we were beginning to fidget. “If this is going to be Daddy’s Christmas, we’ll all have to make a lot of sacrifices.” Benny’s eyes lit up; he loved to make things. “Number one, none of the rest of us...
Read MoreANSWER & WINNER 15th Day Christmas Past
On the 15th DAY of Christmas Past, Elder Benson had a surprise encounter, At his family home evening with President Eisenhower! Elder Benson served as secretary of agriculture and lived in Washington D.C. for eight years. Pres. Eisenhower became aware of the Bensons’ Monday family home evening night and wanted to see how one was held. Read the story on yesterday’s blog post. Congrats to 15th Day drawing winner, Belinda Gross , who won a set of olive wood Christmas tree ornaments! Thanks to all who participated on FB and our...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 15th Day Christmas Past
On the 15th Day of Christmas Past, the QUESTION is to be – 15. What special guest did Ezra Taft Benson get to have at his family home evening just before Christmas? Pres. Benson’s remembrance of this is below: “Our family lived for eight years during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., while I served in the Cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That unusual setting provided unusual experiences. So much of what we did in Washington turned out to be a family affair. Certainly that was the case each Christmas as my wife and children pitched in to participate in the staff party held in the Department of Agriculture, where I served as Secretary. I delivered a spiritual message, our daughters usually sang, and Flora made many of the arrangements and often recited a favorite poem. It seemed that whenever she recited Edgar A. Guest’s “It Takes a Heap O Livin’ in a House to Make It Home” the press made particular mention of it in their reports. Almost every year we held a Christmas fireside in our home. Sometimes over a hundred young people crowded inside and sat on the floor, steps, anywhere they could find a place. My wife and our daughters prepared wonderful refreshments for everyone, and I was honored to talk about the Savior and His mission. It was some of these simple occasions that brought greatest satisfaction. Just four days before Christmas in 1954, our family had a most unusual opportunity. President Eisenhower knew our custom of having a family hour one night during the week, and he expressed a wish to see how it was done. President and Mrs. Eisenhower and our family gathered that evening in the home of J. Willard and Alice Marriott for an evening of holiday fun and entertainment. Our sons performed comic skits and other readings, the girls sang, Flora recited a reading, and I did my part by leading the whole group in singing “John Brown’s Baby Had a Cold upon Its Chest.” It was plain, old-fashioned, homespun entertainment. The President and his party participated and seemed to enjoy it all. For our part, we were delighted with the opportunity to share an evening with the President.” Taken from: Ezra Taft Benson, Ezra Taft Benson Remembers the Joy of Christmas, p....
Read MoreANSWER & WINNER 14th Day Christmas Past
On the 14th DAY of Christmas Past, Mount Pisgah became quite lively. Thanks to the log home entertainment arranged by Lorenzo Snow so wisely! Mnt Pisgah Saints were very destitute and suffering hard conditions. Lorenzo Snow promoted several appropriate amusements to keep the Saints uplifted. During Christmas time, he invited as many Saints as he could to his log home and put on a play which left all who attended “feeling as happy as if they weren’t homeless.” Entire story available on yesterday’s 14th day question post. Congrats to 14th day drawing winner, Sara Marie Thomas Johnson, who won a “flight into Egypt” olive wood Holy Family figurine from...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 14th Day Christmas Past
On the 14th Day of Christmas Past, the QUESTION is to be – 14. What did Lorenzo Snow stage during Christmas time in Mount Pisgah to lift up the Saints? Read about Mount Pisgah and some Lorenzo Snow journal entries below: The Latter-day Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo Illinois in Feb 1846. Temporary settlements were started in Iowa, Mount Pisgah being one of them. “By this time the Saints in Pisgah were in a very destitute condition, not only for food and clothing, but also for teams and wagons to proceed on their journey. Several families were entirely out of provision, and dependent on the charity of their neighbors, who, in most cases, were illy prepared to exercise that virtue. But, above all this, a sweeping sickness had visited the settlement, when there were not sufficient well ones to nurse the sick; and death followed in the wake, and fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters and dearest friends fell victims to the destroyer, and were buried with little ceremony, and some destitute of proper burial clothes. Thus were sorrow and mourning added to destitution.” (Lorenzo Snow wrote in his journal). What a dilemma! And who better calculated to cope with it than Lorenzo Snow? With an indomitable energy—a mind fruitful in expedients, and a firmness of purpose that never yielded to discouragement, he proved himself equal to an emergency which would have terrified men of ordinary abilities. In Nov. 1846, Elder Snow was asked to preside over Mount Pisgah. First he moved to arouse and combine the energies of the people—organized the brethren in companies, making selections of suitable men, some to proceed to the Gentile settlements to obtain work for provisions and clothing, others to put in crops at home and look after the families of those who were called away—to repair wagons, making new ones out of old, and to manufacture chairs, barrels, tubs, churns, baskets and such other articles as could be disposed of to advantage in the neighboring settlements. In creating the desirable and necessary union and perfecting these arrangements, he met with much opposition from some who professed to be Latter-day Saints, in consequence of their ignorance and selfishness; but through the blessings of the Lord, he succeeded in having his plans successfully executed. He sent Elders Dana and Cambell, two intelligent and judicious brethren, to the State of Ohio and other parts of the country, to solicit aid, to invite rich Gentiles to contribute to the wants of the Saints and assist them in their journey westward. They succeeded in gathering funds amounting to about six hundred dollars. The arrangements entered into resulted in supplying the people with abundance of food and clothing, besides facilitating the exodus of those who wished to proceed on the journey as early as practicable. Lorenzo Snow’s journal continues, “I had the pleasure of taking a wagon load...
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