My Christmas gift to you

I have my very favorite saying all made up in a cute book mark. (not pictured) I made them up for the Park City Boutique to give to those of you who dropped by my booth. It is over now, and so close to Christmas but I would like to share the bookmark with you now.

This message is deeper than what meets the eye. Yes, I have Santa on the bookmark, mostly because I love vintage Santa's and wanted that to be the style, but the message is much more than Santa. The message on the bookmark reads...

"The secret of Christmas not the things you do at Christmas time,
but the Christmas things you do, all year through."

This brief verse was taken from a cute old fashioned Christmas song, that I first heard sung by Bing Crosby, but since then many other famous singers have sung and recorded this song as well. This message stuck with me because it is so true. A marvelous secret about Christmas is giving of ourselves and our means to others. It is sharing, and kindness. However just because it is Christmas doesn't make what we do at Christmas time anymore important than what we do throughout the year.

I love to look to Jesus Christ as an example for everything in life. The wise men recognized the signs in the heavens and those for told of the birth of the Savior of the world. The first gifts of Christmas traveled with them, of Gold, Frankincense and Muir. Christ himself is and was the greatest gift of all. Throughout His entire life, Jesus Christ was continually giving gifts to those in need. His gifts were on a higher scale than we give at Christmas time, but the giving freely of his love and healing power, his greater knowledge were given everyday. What an example to us.


We are told to be like Him and the verse to this song reminds us that we should be more like Christ the whole year through by showing kindness, giving acts of service, looking after each others needs, feeding the poor and hungry, helping to make others burdens light and so on. Now do you see why I like this verse to this song so much?

Go to the link to my other blog and you can print off the cute bookmark that I made up to share. Let this little bookmark be my gift to you and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/ or this is the direct link....

http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/2009/12/secret-of-christmas-bookmark.html

Love, Katie G.

Here is the link to one of the Christmas posts I made last year as requested by a follower of this blog. Click on this link http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/2009/12/heres-repeat-of-last-years-pictures-of.html and it will take you to the cute song... "The Friendly Beasts" complete with the pictures that go with the words for you to print and use for your own personal use in your own family. Enjoy. You can find all the free printables for last december by going to http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com and going to the archives.

We can learn lessons in life, even when we think we are old enough to have learned all of them. This past weekend, my niece flew in town, for about 2 hours of business and then spent time with her family who lives in this area. She is a fireball and loves to go and do, and experience things. Things I take for granted for having lived here in Utah, she thrives on and does as much as she has time for when she comes in town.

She is so thoughtful. She really thinks and goes beyond simple thoughts and really gets to the core of needs and nurturing. Because this months Visiting Teaching lesson is on Nurturing others, I thought I would share some of the things I learned by listening and watching my niece in action.

Her first thoughtful deed was to pick up her Grandmother and take her up to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert in SLC. My mother can barely get around so she was paitent and listened to the fears my mother had drove alittle slower to make Grandma feel more comfortable. My niece found out that her grandmother had never been to a Motab concert in all the 77 years she had lived in Utah. What a wonderful surprise and t thoughtful gift for Grandma.

This niece just lost her grandmother on her fathers side a couple weeks ago. She expressed to me thoughts and ideas of what she can do to help those family members to overcome the sadness they feel for the loss.

Her father slipped and fell on the ice a couple days ago and she thought about her mother having to shovel the snow because her dad couldn't. She decided to take action and made a few phone calls and is hiring someone to keep her parents walks and driveways cleared from snow. I would have never even though about this kind of deed as my sister lives so far away in a distant state, but her daughter knew just what to do and did it.

I have thought about all the meals, and treats I have taken in to people when they were sick, wanting to do something, but I think that though meals do help, there are other deeds of kindness that can be done. We need to think alittle deeper and I have no doubt that we can come up with acts of service to help, just like my niece did for her parents.

Well, I need to stop now, but I will add to these thoughts. Maybe you could to. Do you have ideas to help others that may need help during this Christmas season? Shut ins, Old folk, young folk with husband who travel and are not home to help with all the needs of maintaining a house, or whatever else you can think of. Wouldn't it be great to just bless the lives of others in different ways. It doesn't have to be monitary, but just acts of kindness, and nurturing the needs of others. Feel free to make comments and share.

December 2009 Visiting Teaching Message

The topic for this month is "You can nuture through compassionate service."

You can findthe message at http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=true&locale=0&sourceId=9e7b26a816c25210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Wow, before even reading the message, and only reading the topic, I am feeling like I am on the right wavelength because I have had a thought in my mind about Christmas and the things you do at Christmas time. I even designed and printed some bookmarks with this very thought in mind, last month, in preparation for the Craft Fair and boutique I am participating in. I have even printed and laminated these bookmarks to have at the fair, just in case any of the women who read my blogs happen to drop by and want one. I won't be offering this bookmark on this blog so you'll just have to come to the fair and you can see it.

The first two quotes in the message are these:

• President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency: “Disciples of Christ throughout all ages of the world have been distinguished by their compassion. … In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers” (“Happiness, Your Heritage,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2008, 119, 120).


• Barbara Thompson, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency: “We need to rescue ‘all that is finest down deep inside of [us]’ so that as daughters of God we can do our part to build the kingdom of God. We will have help to do this. As Joseph declared, ‘If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.’
  “Let us bear one another’s burdens, mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, and thus keep the covenants we have made [see Mosiah 18:8–10]” (“Now Let Us Rejoice,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2008, 116).

The last scripture reads.... "Let us bear one another's burdens, mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort...." This morning, I checked my email and I received an email from my sister telling me her mother in law had just passed away this morning. She told me how her sweet husband was grieving as well as the rest of his family. This family has suffered many significant losses over the past few years. First my sisters Father in law passed away and shortly after that, a sister in law also passed away. Then about a year ago, the husband of another sister in law died suddenly at a ward outing, sitting in his car, from a heart attach leaving his wife and several children. Now, the Mother and Grandmother of this family just passed away this morning.

You can imagine the loss that the children and grandchildren who are left, must be feeling. So many heartaches in such a short time. Yes, we do have the eternal perspective that helps us to understand where our loved ones are and the state that they are in, but there is still a huge loss and a hole in their hearts that can't be filled.

How do we comfort those who stand in need of comfort. What can we do and what can we say? I don't know if you are like me, but when these times come around, I find myself at a lack of words to express myself. What do you say to comfort someone who has experienced so many losses in such a short while? To top it off, there have been so many other difficulties that this entire family has faced over the past few years. My sisters husband has been ill and in pain for so many years, I have lost track, but he has never lost his faith and he continues to endure.

I am going to leave my thoughts with that question and maybe you sisters can help me write the answers. Help me to come up with ideas that we as sisters can provide comfort, and compassionate service when we need to. And a side note, how do we give the support, love and service to family and friends that live far away, and in different states?
I would love to hear your comments, and experiences. Thank-you, Katie G.