President Monson urges Mormons to fill Christmas with Savior's spirit

Bringing the Christmas spirit into people's hearts and homes takes conscious effort and planning, but can be accomplished, President Thomas S. Monson said Sunday evening.

"In looking back over the years, it is obvious that the Christmases I remember best, the Christmases which touched my heart the most, are Christmases filled with love and giving and the spirit of the Savior," President Monson, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told members. "I believe that such would be true for all of us as we reminisce concerning our best-remembered Christmases."

Speaking during the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional, President Monson offered a message of peace and hope to thousands gathered in the Conference Center, which was adorned with Christmas lights, trees and poinsettias. His counselors in the First Presidency, President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor, also offered holiday messages centered on the Savior.

Hundreds of thousands of LDS Church members around the world heard the devotional, broadcast on the church's satellite system, BYUTV and on KBYU in Utah.

Music for the evening was provided by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square.

During his remarks, President Monson said that he recently reread an account by John B. Matheson Jr., describing an experience during the 1945 U.S. Army occupation in Frankfurt, Germany. World War II had ended and Matheson was living in a three-story home cleaned by an elderly German woman who was hired by the army.

As Christmas approached, Matheson thought he should give a gift to the housekeeper. He filled a box with candy bars, soap and cans of fruit juice. "He knew that in the system of barter among the Germans, his gift to her was worth many, many dollars, but the cost to him was negligible."

Matheson left the gift and a Christmas greeting for the elderly woman on Dec. 24. President Monson said it was a gift given out of pity and for self-satisfaction. "All day he felt rather smug as he thought of his generous gift. The housekeeper would be like an heiress in the poverty of her neighborhood. How lucky she was, he thought."