I feel so blessed that I was given the opportunity to create these illustrations. It was amazing to be asked to illustrate a story that would be told by an apostle of the Lord, President Dallin H. Oaks! My first thought for a model was my dear friend Tricia French, with her sweet daughter and her awesome husband. Tricia came through with costumes and an amazing hairstyle, and her mother-in-law provided beautiful period furniture!
The story is about a girl who was sad that she didn't receive the doll she wanted for Christmas. After her mom tried consoling her, her father called her in to sit on his lap and read from the scriptures about the greatest gift we have ever been given--Christ's atonement and resurrection. The child slept contentedly that night, grateful that she had been given that gift.
Six months after these illustrations aired on the LDS First Presidency Christmas Devotional, my dear friend Tricia died in a tragic bike crash. We have all felt our world turn upside down. I am so grateful that I took the opportunity to draw and paint her and her husband and daughter when I had the chance. We miss her so much. These pictures are so much more meaningful now, and the story means so much more to us now.
"Even though our Father in Heaven knew {terrible things} were in store for His beloved Son, He, in His infinite love and wisdom, gave Him to the world. And the second part of this wondrous gift is that Christ, the Son, knowing, too, all this, gave Himself willingly that we might have eternal life."--Janice Jensen Barton, "The Christmas I Remember Best," Deseret News, December 24, 1988.
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