" 'What did you get for Christmas?' This is the universal question among children for days following the Christmas holiday. If we change but one word in our question, making it, 'What did you give for Christmas?' the outcome is vastly different," President Thomas S. Monson said at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
The second question "prompts stimulating thought, causes tender feelings to well up and memory's fires to glow ever brighter," said President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency.
"Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit," he declared, adding that he felt that spirit many years ago when, as a young elder, he with others was called to the old Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City to bless children during the Christmas season.
"A feeling of sympathy welled up within me as I observed the tiny children, some with arms or legs in large plaster casts, some obviously afflicted with more serious illnesses, ever so weak and pale," President Monson said. "A young lad, who was desperately ill, called out to me, 'Will you give me a blessing?'
"Of course the blessing was given. I shall ever remember my companion and I placing our hands on the tousled head of that faithful boy. As we left his side, he looked up into our faces and said, 'Thank you.' We walked away, only to hear him call out, 'Merry Christmas to you!' I could scarcely see him for the tears in my eyes. He had a glow about him; he trusted in his Heavenly Father. He acknowledged the priesthood of God. His faith was strong. I felt I was on holy ground."
President Monson then read from an anonymous letter he received some years ago from a Church member, a dentist, who had heard President Monson's talk at a previous First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The letter writer recounted that not long after he heard that talk, his receptionist informed him that an acquaintance of hers was coming into his office for dental treatment. The woman carried many burdens with a family business that was doing poorly, with rental payments that were three months behind, and with five children, some of whom had grown to adulthood but had moved back home because of difficult personal circumstances.
"By sheer force of will, she had kept her family together for some time," the letter read. "Now two teeth were broken."
The woman arrived for her appointment. She asked if she could pay her bill over time. "I assured her that her credit was good with me," the dentist had written in the letter. She asked the dentist if he could repair just one of the broken teeth at that time. But since he had the time, he repaired both teeth, for which she was grateful.
The writer recounted in his letter to President Monson: "When the work was completed, thinking of your talk, I told her that if she would not be offended, I should like to make a Christmas present of the dental work, for which there would be no bill. She was astonished. I could sense the depth of the stress and strain she had carried, as uncontrollable tears of gratitude gushed forth due to a small, simple act of kindness."
President Monson asked, "What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following in His footsteps. There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus Christ."
