Merry Christmas!

First, let me share a quick message from the living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. He said, “I, with you have witnessed during the past few days and weeks what has become of the years, the annual commercialization of Christmas. I’m saddened to see Christmas become less and less about Christ and more and more about marketing and sales, parties and presents. And yet, Christmas is what we make of it. Despite all the distractions we can see to it that Christ is the center of our celebration.


If we have not already done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families, which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas…. A wise Christian once urged: Let us not spend Christmas, but let us keep Christmas in our hearts and in our lives. This is my plea tonight, because when we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the spirit of Christ. For the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit. We will block out all of the distractions around us, which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning.


There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus Christ…. May His precious spirit be with us and may He ever be the center of our celebrations and indeed of our very lives” First Presidency Christmas Devotional – December 2011.

Here is a neat video about Christ: #HeIsTheGift

HERE is a post describing in detail how we do the devotionals, beginning November 30th.

HERE is a PDF of the lessons in one place.

HERE are paper ornaments you can print as an alternative to finding/making/buying ornaments.

HERE is a coloring book for small children. This year, I decided to only let the older kids color before or after the lesson. The youngest can color during since it helps to hold their attention longer.

You can also find all of this on my Favorites page, which I add to and update each year.

Every once-in-a-while I get really neat comments about this from people, which always cheer me up, like this one from Brenda Smith:

“My daughter presented your beautiful devotionals last year while I was staying with them. It was the most spiritual and meaningful Christmas I have ever had. I am going to do it this year and so are my other children. THANK YOU!!”


During the first few years of working on these lessons, I felt a lot of inspiration from the Lord and also a great desire to share this with others. So that’s one way I #ShareTheGift ...through these lessons. I hope you enjoy them too!