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The Church has announced a new world-wide Christmas initiative and released original media content with the theme “A Savior is Born.” You are invited to use the content, add your own creative touches, and help to “flood the earth” with messages of the Savior Jesus Christ throughout the Christmas season.

You’ll find the content at Christmas.mormon.org and other Church media sources. Combine the content with resources close at hand to use in personal ways that adapt to your needs and preferences. Here are some ideas using technology and the short Christmas video, the animated GIFs, still images, and three print-and-share posters.

Consider embedding the video with a message in your blog or website. Embedded videos can add meaning and context to online personal messages and be longer than limits set by many social media providers. They are easy to view while reading without having to navigate. Using your computer, follow these steps:

  1. When the video queues up, start playing the video.
  2. Pick the icon in the bottom right of the video window to “watch on www.youtube.com” to go to the Church’s YouTube channel.
  3. Pause the playback and pick the share icon (looks like a flying arrow) below the video window.
  4. Select “Embed” to expand a text box to show a long string of characters that will serve as the identifier for the video.
  5. Copy this identifier code and paste into your website’s text editor where you want the video to display.
  6. Preview, test, and publish.

If you want to share the animated GIFs with people who are not into social media and share it with a lot of people at once, try creating a distribution list from your contacts in your email program. If you are using web mail, your list can be created in a note-taking application, separating the email addresses with semi-colons, and then using the composite list to copy and paste into the address bar of an email.

Let your group know that you are treating them to a daily Advent Calendar that has a special place for you during the Christmas season. Download the GIFs and select one per day to attach to a special email message and send to a group all at once. Invite your recipients to look forward to something new each day by clicking on the GIF. The GIFs are short and in Windows they download to your Downloads folder in one step from your browser window.

You do not need to take a “selfie” holding one of the posters that go with one of the #ASaviorIsBorn hashtags to use them to great effect. When you print the poster, use the print preview window to resize the image so it fits on your computer screen. Make a screen capture and paste that into a word processing program or image editing software.

Add a text box to your message as an overlay to finish the thought, crop it, and save in an image format.

Use the image on your social media outlets. Let your friends know where you found it and invite them to participate with their own personal messages about what the Savior’s birth means to them. The selfie can be optional.

Still images from Christmas.mormon.org may be downloaded and used as gift tags or pass along cards. Combine the image with a short message and a sweet treat. Invent an excuse to visit someone during the holidays. Use them as background on your mobile screen and put a shortcut on your mobile screen to the video which is available for download in the Media Library at LDS.org.

Remember, as you use the content provided, one of the main purposes of the Christmas initiative is to lead people to Christmas.mormon.org where they will discover more about the Savior and answers to many of their questions.

Notice as you visit Christmas.mormon.org you can pick from a number of Internet languages to make the content work for a world-wide audience. As you do your part, the Spirit of Christmas will enter your home and your heart, and the result will be truly special!


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