Family Night

CANDY BOMBER

Read or watch the story of the "Candy Bomber" (you can watch the story at the end of the 2012 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert). Then make treats for neighbors/or a needy family and take them to them.

WISEMEN

Prepare Gold, Frankincense, and Myrh--whatever you can find to represent it, and wrap it up in little boxes. Set up a nativity somewhere in the house and light it by candlight. Dress the family up in turbans and sashes. Tell everyone that they are wisemen searching for Jesus. Turn off the lights in the house carry batter operated candles from the dollar store, and have the family search the house. 

Sing We three Kings

Then You can have a member each read one of these three parts:

Wiseman #1 - When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Herod was the king. We traveled from the east to Jerusalem, and when we arrived we asked," "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Wiseman #2 - When King Herod heard this – he was troubled. He gathered the chief priests and the scribes together and demanded that they tell him where Christ should be born. They told him," He will be born in Bethlehem, for it was written by a prophet." King Herod then came to us and asked us to go find the Christ child and return to tell him where the child was so that he may also worship him.

Wiseman #3 - We departed and followed the star with exceeding great joy. The star led us to the place where we saw the young child and his mother, Mary. We fell on our knees and worshiped him. We opened our treasures and presented him our gifts. Our gifts revealed something about whom Jesus is and what he came to do.

A short lesson about the symbols of the gifts that were presented to Jesus could be given.

Gold - symbolizing kingship and royalty-This was a gift for a King. The song says "Born a King on Bethlehem's plain, Gold I bring to crown him again."  But the idea that Jesus is the King of kings is expressed in their arrival.  He was not a Monarch like Caesar or Cleopatra who ruled for a short time over a limited territory. Jesus was there at creation and was King of the entire universe. He was not to reign by force, but by love. And as the King of Kings he would wear a crown on earth - a crown of thorns.

Frankincense - used in priesthood ordinances and burnt offerings representing the Lord's priesthood and His role as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed on our behalf John 1:29.  This was a gift for a Priest, Frankincense was used in worship. It was in the Temple worship and at the Temple sacrifices that the sweet perfume of frankincense was used.  This gift also suggests that Jesus himself is worthy of worship. The Gold shows that he is a King but the Frankincense reveals that he is God in the flesh. Not only will this child lead people to worship God. He himself will also be worshipped.

Myrrh - This was a gift for a Savior. This is the strangest and most shocking of all the gifts. Of course like Gold and Frankincense, Myrrh was a valuable commodity, even more costly than gold. Myrrh was used to embalm the bodies of the dead. Who would give embalming fluid to a King much less a child king. What would this represent? But the gift was prophetic just like the others. Jesus' death as the lamb of God slain for the sins of the world is the truth behind the gift of Myrrh. Jesus came into the world to live for men, and in the end, to die for men. He came to give eternal life to men. It is also used is many medicines. In fact, Mark 15:23 He was crucified, Jesus was offered "wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it." This medicinal purpose foreshadowed his role as a healer, the Great Physician.

Watch WISMEN STILL SEAK HIM

SANTA AND JESUS


This year we've been working to emphasize to our 4 littlies the gift of Christ in our lives during the Christmas season, instead of focusing on being good so Santa will bring presents. Still, Santa's name has been popping up more than I would wish. One night as I was getting into bed I had an idea that I quickly wrote down. We used it as our lesson for Family Home Evening last night and it went over really well!
First, I held up a picture of a door I drew on a piece of paper. This door was covering a picture behind it.  I said, "Pretty soon we might have a special guest visit our house. You never know! I'm going to give some clues that describe this person and you guess who it is." The clues included:

• he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good.
• he has a beard and a kind face
• he spent his life giving to others
• he's often pictured in red and/or white clothes
• he loves little children
• he gives the very best gifts
• you can never see him, but you can feel him
• he gives us a wonderful, special warm feeling
• he can get into our homes even if the doors are locked
• he has special, wonderful powers
• we want to give gifts back to him, but he doesn't need anything we could buy; he just wants us to give to other people. (My kids have been talking about giving a present to Santa.)
• I ended with, "He encourages us to be good so we will be ready when he comes."

The kids all excitedly shouted "Santa!" Then I had the youngest come and open the door to welcome our guest into our home.

We used this image from the Gospel Art Book. (You could use any number of pictures, including Christ in a Red Robe, The Second Coming, Christ and Children Around the World, etc. I just made sure he was wearing red and white.)
The kids all gasped in amazement that I was actually describing Jesus - there are so many similarities! We discussed how each description applied to both Jesus and Santa, and then we talked about how Santa is actually a symbol for Jesus, and everything we love about Santa is really everything we love about Jesus. We can be reminded of Jesus through many different symbols during the Christmas season, and we mentioned a few - candy canes, giving gifts, stars on the tree, etc.
We looked at a few more pictures of Jesus and even a picture of Santa kneeling at the manger to discuss how Jesus is the greatest gift. It was a very enjoyable and memorable lesson. Now the youngest keeps wanting to open the door and let Jesus in - and we let him!