So. Today is homemaking, although it’s now officially called something like Enrichment. But I can’t keep track of the official name for it, and no one else can either, at least not here, so it’s still called Homemaking. As I’m the homemaking leader, I have no choice but to organize it and show up and be in charge and all that stuff.
So I go. I even go early. I have to rearrange furniture, set up the chairs, make sure everything’s ready the way it should be. You know. I’m the responsible one.
People arrive, it’s time to start, and so we do. Today it all revolves around Christmas. The brief lesson – 15 minutes – is about Christmas and how to bring the spirit of Christ back into the season of Christmas. I could preach – I could talk about how Christ preached charity, kindness, good will, faith, doing good to all men, things like that. Well, that’s part of what we talked about.
I also asked the question – because this is my first Christmas here – Is Christmas commercialized here? It sure is in Canada and the US. I received an overwhelming "Oh yes" from the locals. Apparently, here, everyone celebrates Christmas – Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian alike. Oh, it’s not that the Buddhists and Muslims sing Christmas hymns and read the story of Christ’s birth. Nothing like that. But they will do Christmas trees and Christmas presents. Because the children want it. The children feel deprived if they’re not getting the Christmas presents that their school mates are getting.
Opinion. That’s a total butchering of the meaning behind Christmas. I do, however, acknowledge that many people in Canada similarly butcher the meaning behind Christmas, so it’s not like people here are unique in that respect. In Canada, it’s not just non-Christians who butcher it – some Christians do, as well. If they focus on the food, the sweets, the chocolates, the gifts, the opulence – then they’re not keeping the spirit of Christ in Christmas.
Anyway.
After the lesson, I turned the time over to Sisters Bennion and Griffiths. They were teaching us how to make sweets appropriate for giving away as Christmas gifts.
And this is where I throw in another comment. I’m not saying that Christmas gifts, sweets, food, and the rest are against the true spirit of Christmas. I’m saying that they aren’t, for me, the focal point. They aren’t the reason behind Christmas. They aren’t my goal. The reason, the focus, the meaning all centers around Christ and the message that he brought us when he came to earth to teach us, even those of us who lived hundreds and thousands of years later.
I’m all for the food, sugar, chocolate, and gifts. In the right proportion, with the right perspective. Whatever. But I don’t have the brains right now – I’m sick – to further clarify this properly if it isn’t already done.
So Sisters Bennion and Griffiths did the sugar fest portion of homemaking. Of course I took a whack of pictures. Of course.
We made two types of fudge. We dipped marshmallows in chocolate. We made Chow Chow Truffles, which would have been Apricot Truffles if Sister Griffiths had been able to find the dried apricots she was looking for.
