One way to discuss the importance of Christ’s mission on the earth, and keep the focus on the season is to have a family home evening on the first Christmas in the Americas. This is an interesting lesson that should keep your children interested. It can also lead to a discussion of the importance of believing in and following Christ.
You can open the lesson by telling about the prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite. You can read the prophecy he gave concerning knowing when Christ was born in Helaman 14:1-8. You can then read about how the wicked Nephites were planning to kill all the believers if the prophecy had not come true. Nephi prayed and received the answer that it would happen that night. You can read this in 3 Nephi 1:4-23. As a result of this event many of the Nephites repented and came unto Christ again. If you continue to read in 3 Nephi you read that it wasn’t long before the people became even more wicked than before. It was because of this great wickedness that there was so much destruction when Christ was crucified in the Americas. You may want to point out and have a discussion regarding the importance of staying true to your beliefs. You can show the consequences of one nation as they strayed from the truth that they had.
If you want to expand the lesson you can use this outline of a pageant or program to act out the events in the lesson. You can also use the scripture story of Samuel the Lamanite. Here is another program that discusses Christmas in the Book of Mormon. You can also use these flannel board figures to tell the story of Samuel the Lamanite.
If you are teaching youth, you may want to use this Christmas quiz. This idealist has a schedule to read about the Savior for twelve days before Christmas. If you are teaching primarily adults you may want to draw from “Nephi, Lehi, and Samuel the Lamanite,” and “Christ in America.”
For the opening and closing songs you can sing your favorite Christmas carols. You may want to sing “Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus” p 36 from “The Children’s Songbook.” Do not forget to have refreshments. You can complete any crafts for your twelve days of Christmas after the lesson. You would start doing the twelve days this week.
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