Memories of Christmas Past

Faye Fischer, Church history specialist; research assistance from Anne Berryhill, Elise Reynolds, and Tyson Thorpe
18 December 2018

This post explores Christmas memories through handwritten accounts found in journals and correspondence archived at the Church History Library.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with Christians around the world, have long cherished the Christmas holidays as a time to gather with family and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. While traditions have changed over time, the core meaning and Christian values of love and charity prevail.

The pioneer Christmas was not what modern folks would call abundant. Early Christmases in the Salt Lake Valley were scant on gifts and trappings but rich in love and service. Aurelia Spencer Rogers, founder of the Primary organization, recalls her first Christmas in Utah in 1848 in a letter to Marion Belnap Kerr (MS 1026). The letter begins, “I will endeavor to answer your questions, of how we spent Christmas in pioneer days.”1 She describes the feast of vegetables, grains, and even desserts made with creative sugar alternatives because of the scarcity of real sugar. She tells of “amusements” of concerts, dances, and brass bands and bespoke gifts of mittens, dolls, sleds, and wagons. Stockings stuffed with molasses candy, doughnuts, and popcorn were a favorite of the children.

What stands out in Sister Rogers’s memories is the service provided to less-fortunate neighbors. “Our neighbors were remembered on that day, by sending them some of our fare, or inviting them to eat with us.”2 This outreach extended beyond Christmas; the Saints continued to help those in need through fast offerings gathered at regular Thursday evening fast and prayer meetings.

Aurelia Spencer Rogers; letter from Rogers to Kerr, 1916

A missionary Christmas can be bittersweet. Away from home and usual customs, the true meaning of the holiday often becomes the focus. Myra White Neal’s journal (MS 2784) recounts her missionary service in Wales and later Germany with her husband. Her reminiscences of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 1898, in Germany describe a simple yet exciting celebration that included sightseeing, Sunday meetings, and a family dinner with local Saints. What makes the entry truly special and highlights Neal’s commitment to serving the Savior is the closing line on the 25th: “So we spent our first Christmas of married life together.”3

Elder Elmer Parley Bright served in the Mexican Mission in the early 1920s. The warm weather and distance from home prompted homesickness on December 25, 1921. Bright records in his journal (MS 10129), “Christmas Day but it didn’t seem much like Christmas as there wasn’t anything doing like [there] always is home on Xmas.”4 The next year, however, Bright had discovered the joy of Christmas again. He writes of a Christmas Eve celebration where he received an embroidered towel, calling it a “dandy Christmas present.”5 The elders attended a bonfire with a piñata and ate buñuelos. On Christmas Day they held a baptism and felt the joy of their labors. Elder Bright writes, “We had enjoyed it very much and felt we had done a good deed on Christmas Day.”6

Elder Elmer Parley Bright; journal entry, December 25, 1922

Elder J. Paul Monson experienced similar longing for home and family during his first Christmas in the Swedish Mission in 1927. His journal reads (MS 26505), “My first xmas eve away from home. It doesn’t seem at all like xmas.”7 One year later Elder Monson writes, “Spent a very good xmas,”8 and describes a holiday not to be forgotten—full of treats, feasts, boxes from home, and an evening of playing checkers with Brother Pearson. He must have written a warm letter home describing his well-kept Christmas. In a letter from home dated January 1929, Monson’s mother remarks, “I cried just a little [upon receiving his letter] but they were tears of joy to know you was having a cheerful xmas and that you was so contented and happy about it all.”9

Sister Florence Holdaway remembers Christmas as a time of much-needed rest and relaxation for the missionaries in the Western States Mission. Christmas of 1917, she and her companion and several other missionaries enjoyed a dinner out, an afternoon at the movies, and an evening of dancing. But then it was back to work, Sister Holdaway writes (MS 13140). “And Sunday did come and again did we … go forth to the land of Englewood and teach.”10 While her second missionary Christmas in 1918 was a bit more traditional, spent with a family and playing games with the children, it was still a time of rest and rejuvenation and, of course, dancing.

These memories, drawn from personal journals and other records at the Church History Library, illustrate the Latter-day Saints’ joy in the special spirit of yuletide, sometimes in challenging circumstances. The collection is replete with similar accounts, many available digitally through the Church History Catalog.

Recorded memories of Christmases gone by help us identify what is most important about the holiday season: the birth of Jesus Christ and the charity He inspires in our hearts. Cherish and document your memories of Christmas past, and follow your heart to create new traditions and find new ways to serve, wherever you may be or whatever you may be facing.