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This devotional address entitled The Real Christmas was given on December 5th of

1972 by Howard W. Hunter, then a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The time is drawing near when books will be closed and hearts and thoughts turn toward home.

Like the shepherds of old who journeyed to the manger marked by the star. Many of you will travel to a place where a special

star hangs over your home, a holy place, a place where love and confidence increases

with the years.

Christmas is a busy season.

Streets and stores are filled with people making last-minute preparations.

Travelers on the highways increase. Airports are crowded.

All Christianity seems to come to life with music, lights, and decorations and festivities.

A writer has said, of all the holidays, there is none that enters so fully into the

human heart and stirs so many of the higher sentiments.

The thoughts, memories, hopes, and customs linked with it are bound by antiquity and nationality collectively,

and by childhood and old age individually.

They embrace the religious, social, and patriotic sides of our nature, the holly and mistletoe entwined among the evergreens, the habit of giving gifts to those

we love, the presence of the Christmas tree, the superstition of Santa Claus, all combining

to make Christmas the most long for, the most universal, and from every standpoint,

the most important holiday known to man.

The season is steeped in tradition, and its roots stand back in history.

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