Make Your Christmas Christ Centered

by Peggy Sue Clark

Make a “give list” instead of a list of gifts you’d like to receive.
Improve yourself in some way that would be pleasing to the Savior.
Make time for quiet reflection and choose uplifting holiday activities instead of marathon shopping.
Bear your testimony out loud, either at testimony meeting or to a friend or family member.
Read the Christmas story from the Bible (see Luke 2).
Repent prayerfully and fully of your sins before taking the sacrament. Think only about the Savior during the sacrament.
Write about what you’re doing to make the season meaningful, either in your journal or in a letter to yourself.
Watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
Team up with your family and be a “Secret Santa” for an individual or a family in your ward.
Read the December New Era.
If your ward or stake is having a Christmas social, invite a less-active member to go with you and your family.
Check out videos from your meetinghouse library about the life of the Savior.
Listen to beautiful Christmas music. Handel’s Messiah is a great choice.
Think of ways your family’s Christmas traditions reinforce your testimony. Focus on those aspects of your celebration.
Keep pictures of the Savior throughout his life around the house in places you will see them often.
If there are small children in your home or your neighborhood, organize a live Nativity. Invite friends and neighbors. Serve Christmas cookies and hot chocolate as refreshments.

Photography by Welden Andersen