A Temple Square Christmas

By Rosalyn Collings

Children all over the world love Jesus Christ. They know He is their Savior and that He loves them. Every year at Christmas, children around the world celebrate the birth of Christ.

Last year at Christmastime, Church workers set up beautiful Nativity scenes on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. They spent hundreds of hours creating realistic figures of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Wise Men to place on the lawn near the temple. These figures helped visitors remember that the birth of Christ in Bethlehem was a real event and that real people, not so very different from us, honored Him after His birth.

Four smaller Nativities surrounded the reflecting pool near the Salt Lake Temple. Each of the four Nativity scenes came from a different area of the world. These Nativities were designed especially for children, to show how children all over the world imagine the Savior’s birth.

Hundreds of little lanterns were set up on a plaza near the temple. The glow from these lanterns reminded visitors that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. The lanterns bore the words joy, peace, hope, light, and love in many languages.

Even though the Nativities showed different representations of Christ and the lanterns were decorated with words from different nations, they all told the same story. Jesus Christ was born to be the Savior of the world. His birth, His life, and His Atonement bring joy, peace, hope, light, and love to all people.

Photography by Kelly Larsen, except as noted

Mary and Joseph in traditional Japanese clothing watch over the baby Jesus.

Above: These wood sculptures were carved by a member of the Church in Poland. Left: Realistic figures of baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. (Photograph by Craig Dimond.)

Figures in colorful fabric from Africa worship the Savior at His birth.

These Native American figures are wearing costumes of the Tlinget Tribe in Alaska in the United States.