A Gift for Jesus

This Christmas...

Mend a quarrel. 

Seek out a forgotten friend.

 Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. 

Write a letter. 

Give a soft answer. 

 Encourage youth. 

Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. 

Keep a promise. 

Forgo a grudge. 

Forgive an enemy. 

Apologize. 

Try to understand. 

Examine your demands on others. 

Think first of someone else. 

Be kind. 

Be gentle. 

Laugh a little more. 

Express your gratitude.

Welcome a stranger. 

Gladden the heart of a child. 

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. 

Speak your love and then speak it again.

Howard W. Hunter - The Gifts of Christmas - December, 2002

It has indeed been a beautiful Christmas season. I'm so looking forward to the Annual Baer Family Christmas Eve Dinner and Nativity tonight. What a blessing to enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with those you love! 

One of our family's Christmas traditions is to give a gift to the Savior. Everyone chooses something they can do to serve another, a habit to get rid of, a quality to develop, something to improve on, or a kindness to perform. We write it down and wrap up everyone's "gifts". 

On Christmas morning, before we open our gifts, we gather in our bedroom. Mom retrieves the Gift for Jesus from under the tree. We sing a Christmas song, say a prayer and open our gifts to the Savior. We reflect on the gift...some share, some do not. Each reflects on how he can accomplish the written gift in the upcoming year. It is a tender way to start our Christmas celebration...to reflect on why we are giving gifts, listening to music, making cookies, caroling to neighbors, reading stories, stringing popcorn, and decorating trees. 

The above list by Howard W. Hunter has beautiful ideas that can be used as a gift for Jesus. Pick one that applies to you, write it down, strive to accomplish it, and let the true spirit of Christmas permeate your heart.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!