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25 years ago
A Christmas without presents was one of the happiest he could remember, said Elder James E. Faust, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, during a Christmas devotional in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Sunday, Dec. 18, 1983.
"Our family was terribly poor," he said of the Christmas celebrated at his grandparents' farm in Leamington, Utah, when he was a young boy, according to an article in the Dec. 25, 1983, Church News.
His father had a wife and three young sons while he was going through law school. Elder Faust's grandparents invited the family to their Millard County home, knowing that otherwise they would have no Christmas at all.
The article continued: "Elder Faust said though there were no presents that could be held and played with, there was the gift of boundless love. 'We knew God loved us. We all loved each other. . . . It made me feel so wonderful and secure to belong and to be part of all that went on. We wanted nothing else. We did not miss the presents at all.' "
Elder Faust "mentioned the gifts of eternal knowledge that have come from Joseph Smith, whose birthday is Dec. 23 and 'who is second only to Jesus in importance in our faith.' "
But he concluded, "the greatest gift of this or any other Christmas is the Atonement of Jesus as the Redeemer, the Son of God.... It is a gift we cannot handle or touch, but we can feel the immeasurable love of the Giver. From this gift we can all find the pathway to eternal life."
