Our ward had its Christmas program today in Sacrament Meeting.

It’s  not all that different from the usual weekly Sacrament Meeting. We partake of the Lord’s Supper. We have music. We have talks.

There is a small amount of ward business. Three members are sustained to new callings. One is a relatively new convert. It is her first significant calling, to teach children. She is beaming as she stands to be sustained.

The choir sings a few simple Christmas songs.

We hear from our first speaker. She is an attractive blonde woman, one of whose sons has just returned from a mission.  She talks about peace. When she was much younger, her parents and all her siblings were killed in a horrible car accident. They were on their way to a weekend of working in the temple. She was not with them only because she was with her fiancé planning the wedding. The shock was horrible. But then the peace of God descended on her. She went through with the wedding. Months later the Lord gently and gradually set her back into this lone and dreary world. She is grateful for peace.

The choir sings a few more songs.

We hear from our second speaker. He tells us Christ is the gift. He shares a few more thoughts, including some verses from the Book of Mormon. He struggles to keep his composure, and at one point he chokes up. (I throw a glare in the direction of His Majesty, but he is nodding off.) The speaker collects himself and finishes his talk.

In Sunday School, we talk about Nehemiah. We are engaged in a great work. We cannot come down.

In Priesthood Meeting, we read about Christ’s promise to return. We read of the peace that will prevail in the Millenium, when He rules personally on the earth.

Merry Christmas.