By Geoffrey Biddulph
Note: Part of this story is a taken from a fairy tale I have heard some people tell their children. Other parts are my own invention.
There was once a little girl named Samantha. She loved Christmas. She wanted Christmas to come every single day. So, she prayed on Christmas Eve that it would be Christmas every single day. Soon, her fairy godmother appeared and granted her wish. “Now, every day will be Christmas,” the fairy godmother said.
Well, Samantha went to bed and got up the next day and ran downstairs. And it was Christmas. The tree was beautiful, and there were presents everywhere. Her parents were happily sitting by the fire drinking eggnog. Her little brother was there, and he was well-behaved. She opened her presents, and then went to her stocking. It was filled with candy and special little gifts. She was overjoyed. So many things to do! She played with her new dolls and horses and games all day long. Then, she had a great dinner of roast beef and gravy and mashed potatoes with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and apple pie for dessert. She played with her toys, read a brand new book and fell asleep happily after thanking God for this wonderful day.
Well, the next day Samantha got up and it was Christmas again! What joy! She ran downstairs, and there were all kinds of new toys around the tree and her stocking was full again. Her parents stumbled down the stairs a half-hour later as Samantha ran around the room looking at all the treasures there. Her brother came down and gave a shout of happiness. Her parents had small smiles on their faces, and she opened all her toys again, and ate wonderful food again, and read new books again. And she collapsed in bed at 10 p.m., full and content and the happiest kid in the world. But she noticed that her parents were a little bit tired.
The next day, it was Christmas yet again! Wow! Samantha was still a little full from all of the roast beef and mashed potatoes and apple pie last night, but she still managed to run down the stairs and, miracle of miracles, there were all kinds of presents around the tree yet again! She waited for an hour, then she had to run upstairs and get her parents and her brother, who were still asleep. She woke them all up, and they took their time getting downstairs. They had tired, forced smiles on their faces. Samantha played with her toys but started getting a little bored. “Why can’t we go outside?” she said, but of course it was a White Christmas and they were snowed in. They had TV dinners for dinner because Mommy was too tired to cook again. Samantha got a bit of indigestion and had to take some Pepto-Bismol to get to sleep.
This continued day after day. By the tenth day of Christmas every day, Samantha wasn’t too excited about getting up for Christmas. She wanted to go outside and play but couldn’t because of the snow. She was bored of her toys. Her parents and brother were cross and unhappy. The food was getting pretty bad.
By the thirtieth day, Samantha was tired of the Christmas tree. She couldn’t stand the idea of opening another present. If she ever saw roast beef again, she was sure she would throw up. And her parents were fighting all the time. Her brother was driving her absolutely crazy.
That night, after 30 days of Christmas every day, Samantha got down on her knees before she went to sleep and asked God to bring things back to normal. She said: “Heavenly Father, I really liked having Christmas just once a year. It was something I could look forward to all year long. Now, I don’t even like Christmas anymore. Can you please bring Christmas back to only once a year?” And her fairy godmother appeared and said, “You have learned to appreciate Christmas. You have learned a very important lesson.” And Samantha had learned an important lesson.
Well, the truth is that I have not yet learned my lesson. I want Christmas every day. Yes, that’s right – 365 days a year of Christmas.
How would that Christmas be? Well, once a year Christmas would be like it is now with gifts and presents and Christmas trees and roast beef.
But the new Christmas 364 days a year would be a bit different. We would wake up thinking about the little baby who was sent to Earth for us and was born in a manger because there was no room at the inn. We would all have jobs and would carry on our normal work, but all day long we would think about some of the following facts about this man who was a God:
- His selflessness and charity began long before the world began. A long time ago, we were all gathered at a magnificent council. One of the well-known spirits suggested a plan that involved us losing our freedom of agency. Another one offered himself as a sacrifice for our sin. I believe that this is what CS Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe calls the Deep Magic – the magic that began before the world did, the magic that allowed us to come into being and progress.
- Right from the beginning, then, Jesus’ coming and His birth were seen as seminal events – the key events in history. They came in the meridian of time. All of the true prophets before this time knew about Jesus’ eventual birth, and they looked forward to it as a sign that the plan of salvation was moving forward. They celebrated the eventual day of his birth and looked forward to it much as we look forward to his second coming today.
- We would think about all of the people before Jesus Christ came to the Earth who were awaiting the incredible day of his coming. There is a wonderful scene in the movie The Greatest Story Every Told, where a poor, dirty, apparently homeless woman is kneeling on the ground. She has been suffering under the boot of the Romans and the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the time. And she prays with all her heart, “Lord, please send us the Messiah! Please send us the Messiah!” In the Americas, there were a group of people equally oppressed, about to be killed by their fellow citizens, for believing that Jesus Christ would come. And their lives were saved only by the light coming – the day where the sun went down and it remained light all night long. The light of the world had come! And we can imagine their cries, “Heavenly Father, please send us your son! Please send him to us!” There they were on the other side of the world. They knew he would be born in a manger and would come to save the world. And he came.
- We would think about Jesus being about his Father’s business. We would remember that already by the age of 12 he was talking to the wise men of Jerusalem, helping them understand the plan of salvation. We can imagine him as a young man – upright, honest and perfect, an example for us all.
- We would think about him overcoming temptation. We would consider Him beginning his ministry and having to overcome the three temptations that Satan tried to place in front of him. We would remember the message that, to paraphrase President Hinckley, the only worthwhile conquest is conquest of self.
- We would think about all of his teachings and how we can all become better people if we pattern our lives on Jesus’ life. We would think about Him stopping the men who wanted to stone to death a woman caught in adultery. He told them that the person who was without sin should cast the first stone. And then he said to the woman, “go and sin no more.”
- We would think most of all about his atoning sacrifice, which began in Gethsemene on Passover, the Jew’s day of redemption. We know that he was also born on Passover, April 6. But we celebrate his birth today because of tradition. Every time I take the sacrament I try to imagine Jesus on the cross looking at me and telling me he is dying for me. I see his blood dripping and I imagine his tears of pain.
- We would think about His marvelous second coming, which is just around the corner. We would think about His Millennial reign, when the world will be free of Satan’s influence. We would think about the true king who will come some day to take his thrown.
The truth of the matter is that Christmas the way it is today – the worldly Christmas – gets boring after about the third day. Christmas the way it should be – a celebration of our Savior and the plan of salvation – will never get boring throughout eternity.
Geoffrey Biddulph is the author of a new novel called Island of the Innocent, an adventure story that describes one man’s conversion to the fullness of the gospel. More information can be found here.
