Christmas Talk and Temple Model

Recently I created on online temple model that is similar in floor plan to the Fresno temple. I was limited on building materials and furnishings but I think it came out well. You can click on certain items in the temple and watch youtube video clips or Ensign articles. You can lower the walls to see things easier by using one of the buttons on the left hand side of your screen as well as mute the music.

Here's the link: http://www.myminilife.com/homes/3732103-temple

Also, I thought I would post a talk I made on the holiday season last Christmas.

How to Avoid the Commercialism of Christmas

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is watching the original classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. In one scene, Charlie Brown is talking to his friend Linus:

Charlie Brown says, “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel.
I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.”

Later, as Charlie Brown struggles with these feelings, good old Lucy offers an unsolicited opinion.

“Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”

Charles Schultz put into words probably what many of us often feel during the holidays. I remember walking into a store prior to Halloween and they were putting up the Christmas displays already. It’s enough to make a person lose their lunch. The holidays for many people becomes a time of stress instead of a time of joy. What is supposed to be a time of peace and good will towards men turns into full contact brawls for tickle me Elmo. The holiday becomes too commercialized and the real message gets drowned out.

Let me be clear I don’t want to come across as anti retail. I’m in retail and let me tell you we have some great deals on toy tractors right now. Being in the retail business, I can totally understand retailers trying hard to sell. That’s what they are in business for and the holiday season often is the time of year that retailers actually go from having a loss to a profit. Also, blaming businesses for the way we feel can act as a copout or excuse for us not to make the decisions and changes we need in our life to feel the holiday spirit. God’s greatest gift to man is free agency.

1. In 2 Ne. 10: 23 we read
Therefore, acheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are bfree to cact for yourselves—to dchoose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.
Now I admit that my choices sometimes get me into trouble. I’m what you call a 24 hour shopper. Which basically means I don’t shop until I am within 24 hours of the actual gift need. It’s something in my male genetic code and I know I’m not the only one in church today with this affliction. I’ve seen members of this ward of the male persuasion who are also 24 hour shoppers and I look forward to seeing you guys again on December 24th!
But as a result of my shopping habit and the huge retail influences present in the great city of Stratford (population 500), I do feel a bit fortunate that I’m not bombarded with the sales pitch 24 hours a day with the Buy, Buy, Buy message that gets hammered over and over again accompanied by the synth pop Rudolf the Albino Ardvark playing in the background. But we all can use our free agency to make choices to lessen the commercial influences we feel including:

1. We choose not to read things that constantly remind us of the commercial aspects of the holidays such as newspaper ads and try not to view them on the television. Tivo and DVR are wonderful tools for this because you can just zip through the annoying images of Santa riding an electric razor through the snow or polar bears drinking sugary cola drinks which is pretty surprising since, according to Al Gore, the polar bears are under a lot of stress right now with the ice melting from global warming. Maybe if they have the time and money to drink cola we’ve got bigger problems than global warming.

2. We can choose to focus on the traditions and true meaning of the Savior this season. This doesn’t mean I have to push out everything from the world. A Charlie Brown Christmas, the various tellings of the Dickens Classic, A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life and other inspired things from the world can help us remember the holiday season. Many outside of our faith have been inspired to write, create, and promote music, books, movies, and television programming that is uplifting and shares the holiday spirit.

3. We can participate in holiday service activities to help keep us focused on the real meaning of the season or magnify our current home teaching and visiting teaching callings to emphasize the reason for the season.

4. We can immerse ourselves in the carols, scriptures, the church magazines, and other religious sources that focus on the real meaning behind the Christmas.

5. We can also avoid things that force our attention away from the good aspects of the holidays or that drive away the spirit.

Sometimes though, the difficulty isn’t just with us. Most of us are dealing with family situations and frankly with all the candy and bright, flashy, lead laden toys from China it can be a difficult challenge to get the whole family focused. Just ask my wife who is dealing with all five of us children on a daily basis.
Cute, but it’s important that this girl really understand that Christmas isn’t so much about the getting as it is about celebrating the Savior’s birth and recommitting ourselves to being more Christ like now and after the holidays.
So how do we teach our children about the real spirit of Christmas?

1. Serve others both as individuals and as families. In Mosiah 2:17 we read, “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the bservice of your cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”
President Monson in the December 1987 Ensign: Told a story of service as a young elder visiting primary general hospital close to Christmas.

“As we entered the large front door, we noted the Christmas tree with its bright and friendly lights. Carefully wrapped packages were spread beneath its outstretched limbs. Then my heart was penetrated and my spirit subdued as I read a specially prepared message that had been framed and placed on the wall:
I wonder, what does Christmas mean,
With its stars and shiny balls?
Is Christmas more than Christmas trees
And toys and games and dolls?
Of this I’m sure: There’s something more,
For I’ve heard many say
That in a strange and far-off land,
A child was born this day.
And Christmas is to celebrate
His coming from above.
He showed us how we all should live
And told us we should love.”

President Monson Continued,
“We walked through the long corridors in silence. It was a hallowed scene. Tiny boys and girls—some with a cast upon an arm or upon a leg, others too ill to stand or sit—stared with looks of appreciation. We walked toward the bedside of a small boy, who greeted us with the question, “What are your names?” He then asked, “Will you give me a blessing?” The blessing was provided, and, as we turned to leave his bedside, he whispered a reverent “Thank you.” We walked a few more steps and then heard his feeble call, “Brother Monson.” We turned and heard him say, “Merry Christmas to you,” and a bright smile flashed across his countenance. That little one had the Christmas spirit. It was contagious. We walked from the hospital more appreciative of our priesthood callings, more grateful for our blessings. We had received the Christmas spirit.”

2. Another thing we can do is emphasize the Savior During Time with Family. Family Home Evening is a wonderful opportunity to sing songs of the Savior’s Birth and read the Christmas story. In our family we have a family home evening tradition where we have a special nativity puppet show where the children and adults each have a puppet of one of the key characters from the Nativity and we read the story from the scripture of the Saviors birth. This is something we look forward to every year as a family and it helps everyone in our family develop a greater appreciation for the true meaning behind the holiday. Which brings me to the next thing we can do.

3. Create Family Traditions: Elder L. Tom Perry in the May 1990 Ensign stated:
“If we will build righteous traditions in our families, the light of the gospel can grow ever brighter in the lives of our children from generation to generation. We can look forward to that glorious day when we will all be united together as eternal family units to reap the everlasting joy promised by our Eternal Father for His righteous children.”
Traditions need not be fancy or expensive. It is that time spent together that is most important and will last. I have very few memories of the gifts I received as a child or even last year for that matter. I’m sure they were all nice things that friends and family put a lot of time and effort into but like all physical things of mortality they broke, went unused, and soon faded from my memory. But indelibly printed in my mind for all eternity are the times spent with family and friends, the traditions that we looked forward to every year, those memories, more precious than gold to me now come to mind this time of year and bring me more joy than the toy that now is part of a landfill somewhere. The warmth and joy I felt still warms my soul and the gospel lessons learned during those times influence who I am every day.

4. Finances can be a major stress and distraction during the holidays. Brothers and sisters I can tell you right now that should you have unlimited wealth and resources tomorrow, there would still be many who would never believe that they had enough. There is always something else I can want something else I must have. The wealth and things of the world can not bring true lasting happiness.
One of my personal favorite holiday traditions is Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. I own two different written versions of the original story and eagerly look forward seeing the Patrick Stewart and George C. Scott versions of this classic tale. I also admit a sick fascination with the Muppet version of the tale also.
Old Scrooge for all his wealth and a life time accumulation of money is visited by three ghosts. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows the old miser his past as a poor apprentice in the business owned by Fezziwig, a jovial man who knew the Christmas spirit. Later the Ghost of Christmas present shows him the simple home of his nephew who he had earlier chastised for not pursuing wealth, opportunity, and a wife of better means. Later he sees the poor dwelling of Bob Cratchet and his family. Everywhere he went the true Christmas spirit was felt yet it wasn’t because of things or money. Happiness was found in the humble circumstances of the Cratchets, at his nephew Freds , and in his own life as a poor apprentice. What will you and your children remember about this holiday season 10, 20, or 30 years from now? The things they got or the time with family and the feelings of the true Spirit of Christmas they felt in your home.

5. Time is an ever cruel master whose stresses seem to be magnified during the holidays. It marches on day and night without mercy or respite. It is one of our most precious commodities in mortality yet we only have so much. It cannot be stored or saved for later, and once gone can never be brought back. In spite of this reality, we still feel compelled to fill countless hours of our time with activities and pursuits that offer nothing to fill our souls with the joys of the holiday season. I feel sorry for children who spend more time in airports or the back seats of cars during the holidays than they did with friends and family. Or the family that is rushing off to holiday party after holiday party while squeezing in one more shopping trip.

In Mosiah 4: 27 we read:
And see that all these things are done in wisdom and aorder; for it is not requisite that a man should run bfaster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
We need to ask ourselves if the stresses of the Christmas season are caused by the season or the decisions we make on how we spend our time. Choose wisely.

6. The last thing I want to talk about is what we are inviting into our homes. We are constantly bombarded by worldly influences yet sometimes we let our guard down and invite things into our families and homes that can directly affect the spirit that we feel there.
I would like to share with you something that I have come to call The Parable of the Predator. My family farms livestock and something we have to deal with is the predators taking from the herds. As you can imagine we have a shoot first, take no prisoners policy when it comes to predators. Many of the predators though are darn smart so I do something called predator calling.
Basically I put a remote controlled MP3 player out in an open area and play sounds that to a predator sounds just like a free meal. One I sat down by a tree and started playing the sounds of free predator dinner. After about a half hour I was finished with nothing to show for my time. I pushed the mute button on the remote control, turned off the sound, and started to get up from my seated position next to a tree.

At this point I noticed that a very healthy size Bobcat was staring at me only 15 feet away. I’m in full camouflage including a face net so he’s looking at me trying to figure out what exactly I am and if I’m worth eating. Many hunters have been attacked by a bobcat while calling turkeys and received serious injuries. I’ve even seen pictures of one taking down full grown adult deer.
I can simply end the story by saying that, I’m here and in good shape and he’s not so it all worked out, but I’ve often thought about what could have happened. I went out with the sole purpose of inviting a predator over for dinner and the predator showed up at the invitation.

Brothers and sisters, there is another predator out there that we want nothing to do with yet many people invite him into their homes through the choices they make in media and movies or in their choices and behaviors. Make your home a fortress in the wilderness against the Predator, a place where your family can be safe. Don’t send out a dinner invitation for him to come and prey on your family. In this way you can foster a greater spirit in your lives especially during the holidays but also throughout the year.

The holidays can be a great time to experience the love of the Savior, to remember him, and to become more like him. President Ezra Taft Benson in the 1993 Ensign was quoted as saying. “What a gift it would be to receive at Christmastime a greater knowledge of the Lord. What a gift it would be to share that knowledge with others.”

Christmas should be a joyous time of celebration of our Savior’s love but the choice is up to each of us. After Ebenezer Scrooge’s ordeal with the three spirits, he declared, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
And may we each also pledge to honor Christmas in our hearts and strive to keep it all the year. Close.