Here are some lesson ideas based around Christmas.
If you have others you would like to add, e-mail them to me.
 

 

"Myself and my two counselors each took one letter that spells JOY.  J-Jesus; O-Others; Y-Yourself.  We decorated the room with Christmas decorations that said JOY. You can of course find lot of them at Christmas time and we each just brought what we had. The one that had J-spoke about the life and impact of the Savior. The one that had O-talked about Service and helping Others and the blessing that brings. I spoke about the Y-and tied it in that it is all up to each person or Yourself-if you accept or let the Savior's message in and that we are each responsible to gain and cultivate our own testimonies for ourselves. We played Michael McLean's song "Let Him In." We gave the girls an ornament that we had made that said JOY on it."  We are actually going to give a different gift and use the idea that was posted a while ago about the white stocking.  "It wasn't that anyone had really been forgotten, no children had been slighted of made unhappy and no adult had been left unremembered. The presents had all been distributed and all the stockings were beautifully filled-all that is except one: One stocking that has never ever been hung. It was the stocking intended for the child of Bethlehem. Of all the people belonging at that Christmas gathering only He had been forgotten. Only He had been left out of the festivities. This didn't seem quite right, inasmuch, as it was His birthday that was being celebrated.  Since then the little white stocking has been hung in the center of all our stockings. On Christmas Eve, we gather in the living room and express our feeling of that Christmas Eve so many years ago. During this time we reach into the stocking and pass out the papers that were placed in the stocking the year before. Each person quietly reviews last years gift and then privately writes down his or her offering of a gift to Jesus. The new gifts are then placed in the stocking to be reviewed the next Christmas.  We hope that you will begin and enjoy this holiday tradition in your home. Your gift could include: personal goals you wish to achieve, family goals, ways you will be of service to others in the coming year or relationships you wish to improve."  Then since we did the JOY lesson I want to appliqué the letters JOY onto the stocking so the girls will remember the lesson. (Idea by Pam Camarillo)

Christmas in the Promised Land by Brooke Birch

I wanted to share what we did for our Christmas lesson. I bought the book, "A Christmas Bell for Anya," from Deseret Book. There is a DVD that comes with it that shows a reading of it when it was performed in the Conference Center with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is very touching. It is a story of a young girl and her father growing up during the war.  Her village is famous for making bells, and every Christmas 12 girls are chosen to ring a bell on Christmas morning to symbolize that Christ still lives. Anya is chosen to be one of those girls. Her father makes a beautiful bell for her to ring, but she gets killed by soldiers a few days before Christmas. The father is mourning for the loss of his daughter on Christmas day, but then somehow hears that morning the ringing of bells and can hear his daughter saying to him, "Christ was born and He lives now. So think of Him, and think of me, and ring your bell every Christmas morn."  After we showed the DVD, each of us leaders had memorized a previously assigned paragraph of The Living Christ, and we stood together in front of the girls and recited the entire Living Christ.  Then one of the young women sang the song, "This is the Christ" from the Ensign. The Young Women president then shared her testimony with the girls and even challenged the girls to memorize The Living Christ (which is a personal progress project).  We then closed and enjoyed bell shaped sugar cookies and gave each Young Women a bell ornament with the phrase, "Christ was born and He lives now. So think of Him, and ring your bell every Christmas morn."   It was a very effective lesson. Many tears were shed. The young woman who sang "This is the Christ," couldn't make it through the song because of the strong spirit.  (Idea by Cami Hanson / ga01032007)

Spirit of Christmas - (transferred from lds-yw files)

For Christmas one year, each member of the Young Women Board were responsible for finding and telling a Christmas story. After telling their story, they were to have enough handouts based on that story for each girl and a copy of the story. For example, I told the story about the Christmas orange and gave each girl an orange. One told the story of the Polar Express and gave each girl a small bell on a ribbon. We had donuts, hot chocolate and other snacks they could eat during the stories. The girls loved it and they had little mementos after it was all through. Oh yeah, we decorated with a fake Christmas tree and other Christmas-y things (lights, ornaments, nativity) and the girls still talk about it. (Idea by Kelly Christiansen)

Gift of Music - by Julie Peterson (transferred from lds-yw files)

The true meaning of Christmas by Trisha Gray
 

 Last year we did a silent testimony meeting. First we played the Christmas video from Luke II (your library should have it). we turned down the sound and played the Amy Grant song "Mary's Song" (or maybe it's Mary's lullaby, I forget). Anyway, the song goes perfectly with the pictures in the video and is the exact length. We had asked each girl and leader to bring something that illustrated their testimony. we had a great variety of things, such as scriptures, pictures of the prophets, the Savior, the nativity set. It was very touching as each girl came up to the front, showed her item and then returned to her seat. No words were spoken, we had the lights down low and soft music in the background. Many tears were shed that morning and many of my girls came up to me afterward and said how strongly they had felt the spirit. (by Joyce Anderson in Douglasville, GA)

We watched the Special Witnesses of Christ video for our Christmas lesson and I gave each of the girls a handout on brochure paper with quotes from each of the Apostles and a place for them to write their own testimony. (Idea by Nora Ray)