The Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City were the introductory scenes for an hour of peace and reflection as we sat together in our Mérida living room and enjoyed the First Presidency Christmas Devotional--a tradition to watch each first Sunday in December!








This year the messages were very important for us and especially for those who are feeling "stressed out, strung out, and worn out." We think of families we know who are without work, who are undergoing serious operations and illness, and those who grieve the death or bad choices of loved ones. Especially we remember in our prayers the families in the Colonies who are passing through a time of fear and impotency caused by government's inability to guarantee the freedom of the citizens.

A news release stated: President Monson, his counselors in the First Presidency, President Henry B. Eyring, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, offered holiday messages centered on the Savior. Hundreds of thousands of LDS Church members around the world heard the devotional, broadcast on the church's satellite system, BYUTV. Music for the evening was provided by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square.http://www.mormontimes.com/around_church/general_authority/?id=12028

"The Christmases we remember best generally have little to do with worldly goods, but a lot to do with families, with love and with compassion and caring," said President Monson. The story of the man in the gray flannel suit giving his airplane ticket to a desperate soldier who needed to be home for Christmas, will stay in our memories.

President Eyring spoke of Heavenly Father's desire for all of us to come home to Him and encouraged us to make each day feel like Christmas. We can accept the invitation of living prophets to help those who are lost along the pathway and have wandered to come back to it. We can offer the gospel, which is the only way home, to all we meet along the way. We can lift up those who are tired and hungry and lonely, as the Savior did and now invites us to do with him. As we do, they can feel how much the Savior loves them and wants to lead them on the way to the God he loves."

President Uchtdorf used the story of "The Little Prince" to counsel us to understand that the spectacular displays and decorations of Christmas can be beautiful and uplifting, "but if that's all we see, then we're missing something that's in plain sight. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we become so preoccupied with responsibilities, commitments, and the stress of our many tasks that we fail to see with our hearts, that which is essential and most sacred."