Wise Men Still Seek Him

We don't know exactly how many wise men were seeking the Christ child so many years ago.  Tradition suggests 3, but only because of the three gifts mentioned in the scriptures.  We do know that they were indeed wise, good men seeking out the King of Kings in the form of a little child.

Here are some ideas for a family activity night that could be based on the scriptures about these good men. 

Hide and Seek
Mom and Dad or older siblings could be Mary and Joseph.  The rest of the family could dress up in their best wise man attire with turbans and sashes, carrying small battery operated candles from the dollar store.  They could travel throughout the house finally finding Mary and Joseph seated by candlelight.  The "wise men" could present their gifts.

A short lesson about the symbols of the gifts that were presented to Jesus could be given.

• Gold symbolizing kingship and royalty 1 Timothy 6:15  Also invaluable to a young couple who would soon have the expense of traveling to Egypt to save their child from Herod.  
• Frankincense used in priesthood ordinances and burnt offerings representing the Lord's priesthood and His role as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed on our behalf John 1:29.  
• Myrh a bitter oil is associated with burial in the New Testament John 19:39-40, symbolizing the bitter cup Christ would drink when He suffered for our sins. 

(New Era magazine Dec. 2011, by Rebekah Atkin)

                        

http://alemonsqueezyhome.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-shall-i-give-christmas-ornaments.html

(For a very nice tutorial to make these precious gift for the Savior ornaments)

Gift for Our Savior
Talk about the gifts we could give to our Savior this year.  There are many ways to do this, but it could be as simple as writing on a slip of paper and putting it in a Christmas stocking or pretty box wrapped as a present for our Savior.  This would be a gift to work on for the coming new year and so another activity  for another night could be to open the gift for new years and have everyone record their special gift in their journal so it can pondered and referred to throughout the year.  Perhaps a small beautiful picture of the Savior could be mounted in the journal near the entry about the gift for the Savior giving focus and importance to the reminder of our efforts to give and live a good gift for Him who gave the greatest gift of all.  Perhaps a new inexpensive journal could be presented to each member of the family to record their efforts to do good throughout the year.  We have seen journals or nice little notebooks as inexpensive as two or three dollars.  Finding a way to remember and live the gift is the main idea.

Seeking Christ
This would be a great opportunity to talk about what we can do to always seek the Savior.  The wise men traveled great distances to find the Savior, honor Him, and present gifts to Him.  What can we do to remember Him and honor Him and feel His presence in our life everyday, not just at Christmas?  How can we be His hands in helping others?  Make a plan to do service one day a month as a family having a regular set aside day, maybe Sunday afternoon to write letters or visit someone lonely or sick.  Pondering and seeking ways to help our family seek the Savior has brought about some precious experiences to our family through service and study in the scriptures.  Wise Men Still Seek Him could be your family motto for the year as you intentionally plan ways to bring the Savior and His atonement into the fore front of your family activities.

Some more ideas:
The Wise Men night would be a great time to play the wise man game we have played for years in our family.  We have 3 wise men figurines that are safe for little hands and have been put into service for years.  They simply travel through our house each day getting closer to the baby Jesus.  We take turns hiding them and finding them and for some reason our children loved this game.  The wise men could occasionally leave a word of inspiration, a scripture, a quote or a treat behind. 


For an art project that goes along with this theme, the wise men can be created from hand prints.

A wise man cake could be made with a round cake decorated with a paper crown.  Singing "happy birthday" to Jesus would be fun for children and remind them again whose birth we celebrate.

Sing "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem"

Another simple game for children that we have played is to find the fancy button that fell from the cloak of one of the wise men.  We have hidden that button so many times!

Video Presentation
We are so excited to share with you a resource that just became available online called "The Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos". These videos are beautiful vignettes of the accounts of Christ as recorded in the King James version of the bible. To view, simply go to: http://lds.org/bible-videos

Click on the picture to link to the video "The Wise Men Seek Jesus"

We hope these ideas will spur creative ways for you to have fun with your family and as the wise men of old, seek and find Him.