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When I was the secretary in Young Women’s a couple of years ago, I was asked to give the Christmas Lesson. I had no idea what to do! There were so many beautiful, spiritual ideas. I looked up a lot of great ideas on Sugardoodle and found some ideas for a silent Christmas lesson. From that, I created my own Young Women Silent Christmas Lesson.
This lesson can be used in homes for a Family Home Evening, a ward Christmas party, or for a Young Men’s group (my husband used it for his Deacons).
I combined pieces of several different films along with different Christmas hymns, and some videos from mormon.org. The point of the lesson was for no one to talk. It was to be a time for reflection on the Savior, His birth, life, and His death/resurrection. To go along with the video, I created a booklet that had scriptures, quotes, thoughts, and prompts for the girls to follow along with the video. I also put a few places in the video with just a song, so they could take time to write their thoughts down in the booklet.
It was the first time I had ever been part of a lesson like that and the Spirit was very strong! I brought a small Christmas tree, LED candles, and some lights to put on the table. We had just one bank of lights on so the girls could see their booklets.
At the end of the lesson, I bore my testimony to them. I also had a handout with the nativity on it and I used some small mini Christmas tree star ornaments as the star above the stable. I just taped it to the back and let the string hang over the top. I also mounted the prints on the back of some brown cardstock. I included the link to the handout below. It isn’t the exact same one because the images I used for the other one were not commercial use.
Here is the Christmas video from Youtube. Some of the resolution isn’t fabulous, but that’s because some of the videos are old before HD was implemented 😉 Most chapels now have televisions that an connect to iPads, computers, the internet, and iphones. Be sure you know what your ward’s TV’s can do before the day of the lesson so you’re prepared.
UPDATE: This link will allow you to download the video to your own computer. You will see an arrow at the top of the page to download. Let me know if you have any questions or problems by emailing me (youreverydayfamily@gmail.com). I’m adding it to a Dropbox folder as well but you will have to email me if you’d like that link. Please keep in mind that is a very busy time of year for everyone, include me, and I try to get to everyone’s videos/comments. If I don’t reply, try me again. Thanks!
DROPBOX LINK (seems to work easier for some people): I know the Google download doesn’t work for everyone. If that’s the case, the video is in this Dropbox folder and may be easier to access. Get that here. There are two different video files, one is a WMV (windows movie) and the other is an MP4 file which should work better for many of you. The sound is also better on this file for some reason.
Here are all of the downloads. For the nativity one, I printed it out on cardstock. I found some mini star ornaments at Hobby Lobby and tapes the string to the back of the handout so the star would sit on the top of the stable over its picture.
For another lesson idea, try this Little Drummer Boy Lesson for Christmas. It was used for Primary but it can adapted for youth or families too!
Download the Booklet (need a program that can print booklets):
Note about the booklet: It is in a book form. So, it is made to be double sided and folded. When you print, print the “odd pages” first (there should be a part on the printing settings when you print that lets you select odd pages or select the pages to print). Then, take those out, keeping them in order, and print the “even pages” on the back sides. Once that is done, you can fold the pages, in order, in half to create the booklet. If you want to check it, you can go through the video and see if it matches what is being played.
Or, to make it easier, you can always print them one sided and then cut them in half. The right sides are the first pages (cover and pages 1-4) and then page 5 starts on the last page, left side and then works forward. So, the first page of the download has the cover on the right and the last page on the left. The next, has page 1 on the right and page 8 on the left. The next is page 2 and page 7, then page 3 and page 6, and the last is 4 and 5. Make sense? If you have questions, just let me know 🙂