Baker Christmas 2010

Christmas has always been a special holiday for me. However, it began really meaning something to me when I was still a little girl and learned of the story of my Great, Great Grandmother McConkie. (Don't get me wrong....I always liked getting stuff....but I am a person who appreciates the symbols or principles behind things. This story made how we celebrate Christmas make sense to me.)

I have always been the kind of person that needs information. Yep....kinda like my little Gracie. (Which, isn't always the easiest of children to have around because there are questions.....always hundreds of questions being asked....requiring my taking the time to give hundreds of answers.)

So, for me, even as a little girl, Christmas baffled me a bit. It never quite made sense that we gave each other gifts on somebody else's birthday. I got gifts on my birthday. People gave me cool stuff to honor my day of birth. Christ got gifts honoring his actual birth from the Wisemen. So, why....in celebration of His birth.... do we give each other stuff? I couldn't wrap my head around that.

Anyway, as I mentioned, learning years ago of the experience my Great, Great Grandmother had in her life put things more in perspective for me. I thought I'd share it with you:

Emma Somerville McConkie was a widow from Moab, Utah. (If the story sounds familiar...it was shared years ago in general conference by Bruce R. McConkie. It is also currently in some of the church's manuals.)

Here is her story as told in the words of her son Oscar McConkie, who was Elder Bruce McConkie's father. Enjoy.

"Mother was president of the Moab Relief Society J___ B___(a nonmember who opposed the Church) had married a Mormon girl. They had several children; now they had a new baby. They were very poor and Mother was going day by day to care for the child and to take them baskets of food, etc. Mother herself was ill, and more than once was hardly able to get home after doing the work at the J___ B___ home."

"One day she returned home especially tired and weary. She slept in her chair. She dreamed she was bathing a baby which she discovered was the Christ Child. She thought, Oh what a great honor to thus serve the very Christ! As she held the baby in her lap, she was all but overcome. She thought, who else has actually held the Christ Child? Unspeakable joy filled her whole being. She was aflame with the glory of the Lord. It seemed that the very marrow in her bones would melt. Her joy was so great it awakened her. As she awoke, these words were spoken to her, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' "

As I said, needing a reason for things....even as a child...I understood that by thoughtfully and lovingly giving each other gifts....we, indeed, give gifts to the Savior to honor his birth.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. This year, Christmas for me was one of taking stock of the gifts in my life. I have many. In fact, more than I deserve.

Love,

Shannon

p.s. A special thanks to the Black family who so graciously invited us to be a part of their family's celebration. Love you.

p.p.s. Sorry about no returns between paragraphs....something quirky is happening with my blog.