CHRISTMAS IS OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Christmas is already over. Doesn't the year go by quickly. I've already started filling up my diary and calendar for next year, which mind you is only 5 days away.

The thing I love most about Christmas is remembering the reason why we celebrate christmas. The fact that the Saviour came to earth so that we might have eternal life. I also enjoy being with friends and family. My family is spread all over Australia and it's nice to get the chance to talk to loved ones on the phone. I have my mum and one sister in Tasmania and a sister and brother in Victoria, living in different parts of Melbourne.

Christmas Day was busy, visiting one of my brothers and his family in the morning for a little while - then having lunch with my son .....who did most of the cooking, and a good job at that. We then went to other family for dinner. Last night we went and had dinner with friends and had a really lovely time. Our friends have a big family, and it was wonderful to share a meal with them. They also had their beautiful 6 month old grandson there and he is just so gorgeous.

Our church is having a young single adult convention over the new year period and there are about 450 young people congregating here in Adelaide, all set for a good time. When I was younger I went to the same convention and I had a wonderful time. Sometimes I wish that I could have those days back again.

WILL THE CHRIST CHILD COME?

This story was read in my church meeting this past Sunday and I would love to share it with you all.

One Christmas we had an interesting experience that I would like to share. Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days of Christmas were beginning!! We waited excitedly for the next night's surprise and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that the lamb was part of a nativity set. Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive. Each was equisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ's birth.

On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, but the baby Jesus. My 12 year old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began to devise all kinds of ways to trap them. He ate his dinner in the mini-van watching and waiting, but no one came. Finally we called him in to go through our family's Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed we checked the front step - No Baby Jesus!! We began to worry that my son had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus and there wouldn't be anything coming. Somehow something was missing that Christmas Eve. There was a feeling that things weren't complete. The kids went to bed and I put out Christmas, but before I went to bed I again checked to see if the Jesus had come - no, the doorstep was empty.

In our family the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they have to wait to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very early and I also woke up to watch them. Even before they opened their stockings, each child checked to see if perhaps during the night the baby Jesus had come. Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd affect. At least it changed my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mond was the feelings of waiting for the ceramic Christ Child.

We had opened just about all of the presents when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree. He handed me a small package from my former visiting teaching companion. This sister was somewhat less active in the church. I had been her visiting teacher for a couple of years and then, when she was asked to be a visiting teacher, she requested to go with me. I had learned over time they didn't have much for Christmas, so that their focus was the children. It sounded like she didn't get many gifts to open, so I had always given her a small package - new dish towels, the next year's Relief Society manual - not much, but something for her to open. I was touched when at Church on the day before Christmas, she had given me this small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation. As I took off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this year giving me a gift. But as the paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box was the baby Jesus. He had come!

I realised on that Christmas Day that Christ will come into our lives in ways that we don't expect. The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another. We had waited and watched for him to come, expecting the dramatic "knock at the door and scurrying of feet" but he came in a small, simple package that represented service, friendship, gratitude and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Saviour. But we will most likely find him in the small and simple acts of love, freindship and service that we give to each other. This Christmas I want to feel again the joy of knowing that Christ is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that I want to open my heart to him all year that I may see him again.