I can't wait to visit Temple Square and see the Christmas lights again. We go almost every year. It's always different, one year it was 10 degrees below 0, one year it snowed, one year we went to the restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Building and drank hot chocolate and marveled at the beauty of the Temple from above.
The Christmas Spirit is always there at Temple Square!
Hopefully we will be able to go this Saturday evening, but a valley snow storm and potential blizzard is predicted, so we'll see. It's really extra super beautiful when the snow is falling!
Here is a sweet story of a happy Christmas memory from President Monson:
In Search of the Christmas Spirit
By President Thomas S. Monson
Ensign, Dec 1987
"Temple Square in Salt Lake City is known throughout the world. It is particularly attractive at Christmastime, with its thousands of twinkling lights, traditional nativity scene, carolers singing those songs so dear to us all, and, of course, the lighted statue of the Christus, which seems to say to the world, “The spirit of Christmas is indeed the Christ spirit.”
As I make the long-awaited family trek to Temple Square each year to observe its Christmas adornment and to renew more vividly the meaning of this special season, my thoughts inevitably turn back to Christmases of long ago, and there courses through my memory a cherished experience.
As a very young elder, I was asked to join the president of my quorum in a visit to the old Primary Children’s Hospital, situated then on North Temple Street in Salt Lake City, to provide blessings for the sick children who desired to receive them. 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.
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."
Read Entire Article Here
Christianity,Spirituality,Meditation,LDS,Mormon,Christian,Hymns,Praise and Worship,Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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