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....
Read More6th Day Christmas Past Winner & Answer
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...
Read More6th Day Christmas Past Question & Story
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....
Read More5th Day Christmas Past Winner & Answer
Answer 5th Day Christmas Past: Joseph F. Smith when he was only 8, courageously tried to keep their cattle from being stolen. Congrats to 5th Day drawing winner, JOYCE GLAETTLI, who won a Holy Family olive wood carving from Bethlehem, Nauvoo Temple sunstone replica, Nauvoo Temple Christmas card set, Joseph & Hyrum ornament, and MHA notebook, value $80! 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 More5th Day Christmas Past Question & Story
On the 5th Day of Christmas Past, Question: How did young Joseph F. Smith show courage during Christmas in Winter Quarters? 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. “Courage is a theme of the Christmas story. Think of Mary’s courage to be the handmaiden of the Lord, Joseph’s courage to be the guardian of God’s son, the shepherd’s courage to worship a newborn baby, and the wise men’s courage to follow a new star. What stories of courage have been passed down in your family? Sharing such stories make priceless Christmas gifts. Here is a story from Joseph F. Smith’s family… Joseph F. Smith was six years old when angry mobs killed his father, Hyrum Smith, along with his uncle, the Prophet Joseph Smith. At eight years of age, he and his mother Mary Fielding Smith drove a yoke of oxen pulling their wagon from Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. We can’t help but wonder what Christmas would have been like for them at Winter Quarters. One incident during the winter they spent there reveals the remarkable courage of young Joseph F. Smith. One morning he and another boy his age were on horses watching over the cattle when they suddenly saw a big band of riders charging toward them on horseback. The other boy immediately started for home, crying, “Indians are trying to scatter the cattle!” Joseph’s first impulse was to save the cattle because he knew that if they lost their cattle they couldn’t leave Winter Quarters that year. He dashed off to round up the animals. Two riders raced past him after the other boy, who for some reason jumped off his horse and ran for home. One of the riders took the boy’s horse. Joseph reached the head of the herd and succeeded in turning the cattle toward home just as the riders approached. His efforts, combined with the rush and yells of the riders, stampeded the cattle. A number of riders were finally able to outrun him, even though he had dodged them for some time. In his own words, Joseph F. Smith recounts: ‘One Indian rode upon the left side and one on the right side of me, and each took me by an arm and leg and lifted me from my horse; they then slackened their speed until my horse ran from under me, then they chucked me down with great violence to the ground. Several horses from behind jumped over me, but did not hurt me. My horse was secured by the Indians and without slackening speed they rode on in the direction from whence they had come.’ Men from the settlement came to help Joseph whose efforts stalled the band of riders just the right amount of time that only Joseph and the other...
Read More4th Day Christmas Past Winner & Answer
Answer 4th Day Christmas Past: A brother bought a candy heart but wished he could have bought a set of dishes for his sister. Another brother ate the candy heart and felt bad so he got the dishes to replace the heart turning the gift into the one originally hoped for. Congrats to 4th Day drawing winner, KAY PEEL, who won a Holy Family olive wood carving from Bethlehem, Nauvoo Temple plate (replica from 1840s), Nauvoo Temple ornament, and MHA notebook, Value $173! 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...
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