"The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!"

My sister-in-law Jen called me yesterday (she lives in Arizona), and we started chatting while we were both loading our respective dishwashers. Jen was venting about the usual things we women vent about: cleaning, kids, husbands and more cleaning. Jen had been spending the week watching three separate families of kids. One of the sets of kiddies was from a woman in her ward who just had her seventh child (c-section). The woman's husband was away on business, and she was alone with all the children. So Jen being the good R.S. woman that she is, volunteered to help out.

As the conversation progressed, Jen was telling me that she just hasn't been feeling the Christmas spirit this year. "We haven't done our shopping. I haven't made Christmas treats. We didn't put up any lights on our house," she sighed. I felt bad. I didn't know what to say. I suggested a bubble bath (which is pretty much my standard cure for any ailment). We finished the conversation, and I went on about my day. Later, as I was preparing to go visiting teaching, I read this passage from the Ensign: "Our day-to-day offerings of charity are 'written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God...in [the] fleshy tables of [our] heart[s].' Little by little our charitable acts change our natures, define our characters, and ultimately make us women with the courage and commitment to say to the Lord, 'Here am I; send me'". It made me think of Jen, and all the kids she was voluntarily watching this week. "Now that is the true spirit of Christmas!" I thought to myself. Jen has got it right.

The spirit of Christmas doesn't come in the form of a big, shiny, new present. It isn't always in the colorful lights or festive music. It's the thoughtful gestures, and the kind deeds of others that convey the true meaning of Christmas. As Dr. Seuss so eloquently put it: "'It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!' And he puzzled three hours, till he puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! 'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps...means a little bit more!'"