Christmas Passed, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future

Our Primary has been asked to sing 5 songs at our ward Christmas party next Saturday night. Because we have just finished reading the Book of Mormon in 90 days as a ward, (I did it! Yessss!) its sort of a culmination of celebrating Christ's birth and the Book of Mormon, and Christ in the Book of Mormon. So we have been asked to sing these 5 songs:

Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus
When Joseph Went to Bethelehem
Picture a Christmas
Scripture Power
Teach Me About the Temple

Last week we learned Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus and When Joseph Went to Bethlehem, and the children know the other three quite well already, so to review and polish all the songs this Sunday we will be playing my version of:

Christmas Passed, Christmas Present, Christmas Future

Prep:

Write the name of each song you want to review on a slip of paper or even on a blank Christmas card. Put each slip of paper/card in a box and wrap it up as a Christmas present. 

Instructions:

Ask the children if they have ever read the book, or seen the movie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Explain that in the story, Ebeneezer Scrooge, a cranky old miser who doesn't like Christmas, is visited in the night by three angels, or "ghosts": The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Future. Each angel shows him his past, his present, and his future, and in the end he learns about the true meaning of Christmas. Tell the children you are going to review Christmas songs today by playing a game called "Christmas Passed, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future". It doesn't have anything to do with ghosts or Charles Dicken's story, but it is called "Christmas Passed", because we are going to pass one of these Christmas gifts around as we sing each song. "Christmas Present" because when Sister (pianist) stops playing the piano anywhere she chooses to in the song, whoever is holding the present gets to open it while we finish singing the song! And "Christmas Future", because inside the present is the name of the next song we will sing! Whoever opens the present will tell us the name of the next song.

I plan on singing an additional fun Christmas song to begin passing the first present around.

Have fun!