Since that time [of the Savior's birth], the spirit of giving gifts has been present in the mind of each Christian as he commemorates the Christmas season. I wonder if each might profit today by asking himself, what gift would God have me give to Him or to others at this precious season of the year? …

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The Christmas of 1953 was one I shall long remember. A telephone call came from the teacher of a Sunday School class in one of the more affluent wards on the east bench of Salt Lake City. She asked if there were any poor living in our ward — persons who needed help at Christmas time. I responded that there were no poor people who had not been provided the necessities of life, but perhaps an experience could be had which would benefit her class members as well as a particular family whom I had in mind.

I was thinking of a certain family in our ward. Henry, his wife, and children had come from Germany. They lived in modest circumstances. All during the war Henry and his mother had prayed that he would never have to take human life. Strangely enough, Henry served four years during the war, three of which were spent on the Russian Front. His assignment? Ambulance driver. Their prayer was answered.

As the teacher and I made the plans for the Christmas activity, I suggested that if each girl or boy could bring to the family on the appointed night a gift that meant a great deal to him or to her personally, then each would have a Christmas that would long be remembered.

That evening the parking lot of the ward contained one Chrysler, one Cadillac and two Oldsmobiles. Such an array of wealth had never before graced that parking area. The cars were left at the chapel. We walked to the home singing carols along the way.

At the family home between Fourth and Fifth South on Second West, the Christmas spirit truly entered each heart. One girl handed to one of the family's daughters a lovely doll that she had had from her girlhood. She showed the tiny girl how to caress the doll and to hold it ever so tenderly in her arms.

One of the boys handed to a small boy his baseball glove carrying the Lou Gehrig signature. He then explained to the young German brother how to catch a baseball. Such was the case with each gift.

We returned to the ward, there to have the traditional donuts and apple cider. Almost in unison the young boys and girls spoke out: "This has been the greatest experience of our lives."

I thought of the second verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem":

How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of his heaven.

No ear may hear his coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

As we left the chapel that night, all of us who had participated in making Christmas come alive reflected upon the words of the Master:

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Mattheaw 25:40).

— "The Spirit of Christmas," New Era, December 1974, page 15