Every year a little bit happier and therefore, every year, a little bit sadder. Thanks, friends.
After many vicissitudes, the Tree Son and the Starwife are united, and they all frolic with the Godchild on Christmas day.
They then have the adventure of the pheasant and the fruit, aided by their children.
They then have the adventures in cloud land of the donkey, the monkey, and the turkey cock, aided by their children.
They then descend from the clouds to an autumn land.
They were in a beautiful land. The air was crisp and clear. The leaves were red and yellow and orange; they shone when the sun filtered through them. The grass was still green. The fruit hung heavy on the trees and fell heavy onto the ground There were meadows where fat elk and fatter cattle grazed, and under the trees where fruit dropped, and even though there was no sign of any folk, there were fields with corn stacked in shocks and pumpkins growing orange. The donkey, the monkey, and the turkey cock immediately ran around prancing and skipping and generally making fools of themselves. It became a general frolic and then a dry wood fire and then hot coals and when the sun lowered in the west a feast with meat and nuts and fruit and corn and all manner of good things.
The next day they also lazed and played games, jumping into and over great piles of leaves. The babies still clinging to the Tree Son and the Starwife squealed whenever the parent sprung into the air. That afternoon while the Tree Son studied the trees and their ways and the Starwife contemplated the light and the leaves filtering down from the canopy, several of the children went exploring.
Joseph Smith said that the book of Revelations is one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written.
Now, me and Brother Joseph are alike as two peas in a pod. Practically twins. But in finding the Book of Revelations easy going, Joseph has one up on me.
That’s what I normally would say anyhow. But after a recent Sunday School discussion I realized the core message is plain and obvious. So much so that we all already know it, which is why we get absorbed in figuring out which 1940s battle tank is represented by which candlestick, etc. (more…)
Father: And what do you want for this new year?
Girl: I want to be fancy!
Father: Fancy! Like Fancy Nancy.
Boy: That’s so stupid.
Father: And what do you want?
Boy: I want to be king of the world.
Father: What would you do if you were king of the world?
Boy: I’d have a whole house full of toy soldiers and nobody could ever tell me to put them away!
Three out of four ain’t bad.
A Toast to the Ladies of Deseret
Early swarms, full hives,
That’s the way the Kingdom thrives
-W.W. Phelps
You would have loved your exclusive JG Giftmas ™ this year. We had a handcrafted Christmas message full of cheer. Very endearing! Produced by fair wage diverse indigenous artisans and certified conflict-zone free. The cost to you would have been minimal due to generous green energy subsidies investments provided by the administration, since the message was carbon neutral. You would have loved the spontaneous encomiums to the Biden economy our artisans inserted at the end.
Unfortunately, our message shipment is stuck on a cargo vessel in the Red Sea, stranded for fear of Houthi missiles.
So instead we offer you this authentic 16th century carol.
Friends, its that time of year when you have a million happy bustling things to do and so, in fear that you might have a free moment, we post our Christmas page. Please see above in the header bar. May we suggest that you particularly check out Holiest Madness?
Merry Christmas!
I personally am grateful for any time you spend here with me this season, and don’t begrudge it at all if the time you have to spare for your JG friends is not as much as you would like.
For those who stick around, I am going to try a little experiment, starting tomorrow. It’s going to be an episodic Christmas fairy tale, I’ll be posting one small episode per day from tomorrow until Christmas, and then 12 more for the 12 days of Christmas. God willing.
I already have some concepts. The plot will involve the Tree Son and the Star Maiden and, I think, the God Child. Probably an ogre named Big Black Dack. No guarantees. Any suggestions or ideas? Comment below.
The church announced that Patrick Kearon was ordained an apostle yesterday. He was baptized on Christmas Eve 1987 at age 26, so I went looking for the last time someone baptized as an adult was later ordained an apostle. I had to look back farther than I had guessed.
Ulisses Soares was a child when his parents were baptized, and he was baptized at age 8.
Dieter Uchtdorf likewise.
John Widstoe was baptized in April 1884 at age 12.
Charles Penrose was baptized on May 14, 1850 at age 18 and ordained apostle July 7, 1904.
Anthon Lund was baptized about 1856 at age 12.
Marriner Merrill was baptized April 1852 at age 19 and ordained apostle October 7, 1889.
Albert Carrington was baptized July 18, 1841 at age 28 and ordained apostle July 3, 1870.
So, the last apostle prior to Elder Kearon to be baptized at age 20 or older was someone born in 1813, when Joseph Smith was seven.
You have never not been on the cliff’s edge leaping.
General Conference Debrief–
Elder Cook’s talk on being a peaceable follower of Christ, despite what you’d think, was not about going around being nonviolent. It was about the problem of evil and what to do about it.
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I just realized that ‘”rejoice” means “take joy again.” I am swift on the uptake.
The point of gratitude isn’t to give yourself double the happiness. But that is its effect.
Simultaneously the most American and the most universal of holidays.
We have much to be grateful for.
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.
James 5.
The cankered gold that eats the flesh like fire is obviously a spiritual metaphor. But in our prosaic way, we got to talking about what kinds of reactions can actually corrode gold. We couldn’t think of anything and a little research shows there isn’t much under normal conditions. Gold cleans up nicely.
Then someone mentioned Alas, Babylon. There are some striking passages about irradiated gold which slowly kills the wearer. If you want to really get what James is saying, read Alas, Babylon.