The morning of December 24th...

Last Monday, December 24...
      ...we received a phone call at 9:00 a.m. that a reporter for Channel 21 TV News was downstairs to interview someone with the question:  "How do Mormons celebrate Christmas?"
This came out of the blue with no previous notice.
Walt pulled off his sweats and jumped into his suit and dashed downstairs.
The interview is on the first floor of our 2-story apartment building in the waiting area in front of the cafeteria.

President Petersen told him that "we not only celebrate the birth of the Savior, but we also focus on His Atonement and Resurrection.
There are no special meetings on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.
The Sunday before Christmas we honor the birth of the Savior with special talks about Him and religious Christmas carols." 

Note from Eileen: I am putting my favorite scripture about Christ's birth here:  John 18:37
"...to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world..." (This was not in the interview, but since Walt talked about the Atonement and Resurrection, I am adding these photos.) 
Christ looking at Jerusalem...

   Atonement - at Gethsemane...

...and on the cross at Calvary...

After the recorded interview, the camera gal went out to shoot some photos of the temple.

Informally, the reporter asked some more questions about the Mormons and here is what President Petersen answered: 
"Many people don't believe that Mormons are Christians.  We believe the Savior is the Son of God and we partake of the Sacrament each Sunday in our Sacrament meeting.  The broken bread is in remembrance of the broken body of the Savior.  The water symbolizes the Savior's blood shed for the atonement of our sins."

Here is the painting of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, believed to be painted about 1495-1498.  It is now in a museum in Milan, Italy.

  Right after President Petersen was interviewed by Angel Iraheta, President Eduardo Alas and Consuelo, Walt's second counselor and and wife, drove up to the front of our temple complex building.
His son and family had just taken President Alas to breakfast for his December 24th birthday.    

Walt told the TV reporter that President Alas would be able to add some good insight about "How Mormons celebrate Christmas."

President Alas said that they have a special family home evening about the birth of the Savior, and they sing Christmas carols as they gather together on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts.  Then the reporter saw his young grandchildren in the car and asked the whole family to come out.

He asked the family to sing a Christmas carol and they sang "The First Noel."
   As the reporter and the camera girl were ready to load up their things, I asked if I could take a photo of them. (Imagine me asking to take a photo!?)

As they got into their pick-up, I noticed "19" on the door, and his microphone had "Canel 21" on it.  I asked him about this. He replied: "Oh, we are a Multi-Vista group for Channels 15, 19, and 21."  (You know, of course, that this is all translated from Spanish into English.)
Here is the microphone while the reporter was informally talking with Walt.

Here's the camera gal during the shooting.  I kept way out of the view of her camera while I was taking my little camera still photos.

And they were off to edit their interview for the 1:00 afternoon news.

  We watched Channel 21 during the 1:00-2:00 news program, but they didn't air the interview, so we thought they weren't going to use it.
    However, several told us that they saw it on the news that evening, so we missed it.  They showed President y Hna. Alas and their family.  So Walt thinks they either didn't understand his Spanish (which I know didn't happen), or they liked more what President Alas said about how Mormons celebrate Christmas than what he said.  
(But I think maybe they will use President Petersen's interview another time.)
The Temple
  The reporter had asked President Petersen if he could go into the temple. President Petersen explained why he could not and some things about the temple.    That will be another blog...

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