When our Gospel Blog editor asked us to write about who we would have dinner with, I thought I would cheat and have dinner with two people. I choose (1) a former Hollywood celebrity currently in prison and (2) Abinadi. We would have some steaks, and I would take a selfie. I would later print the photo, frame it, and then add a scripture: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

If I had the opportunity to have dinner with anyone from scripture or church history, it would be the four sons of Mosiah: Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni. These men were great missionaries, taking the Gospel to the Lamanite people and being used by God to bring many of them to an understanding of the truth.

With where I am in The Church, away from the main body with only a handful of saints closer than four hours away, I would love to hear their counsel. It would be both encouraging and helpful in spreading the Gospel and growing The Church.

Of the hundreds of notable people throughout the Scriptures, one individual has always intrigued me. Perhaps the best-known woman in both the Bible and Book of Mormon, Eve has had an enormous influence on our lives. While many poke fun at her “gigantic mistake,” I tend to err on the side of her humanness — and somehow that makes me feel comforted when I find myself following suit. If I could sit down to dinner with her one evening — over a pasta meal, of course — I’d love to ask her about the following:

We were recently blessed to host Sister Sharon Church at our home. I mention her name in order to introduce the person from church history with whom I would like to have dinner.

While Sister Sharon was with us, she gave me the gift of her father's and her grandfather’s testimony in booklet form. After reading these, you have no idea how I wished that I could have met these two gentlemen. Her grandfather was Brother Ishmael D’Amico. I read his story two times and then went on to share his testimony with many.

The reasons I would love to have dinner with him and have discussions with him are as follows:

If I were to have dinner with someone from church history and could ask him or her questions it would be…

Can you guess by these statements who the person (I would choose to have dinner with) is?

Today, we're introducing a series of articles called, "If I Could Have Dinner With…" Each participating writer has chosen someone from scripture or church history who they'd love to have all to themselves for the length of a meal — to ask questions, to listen, to dialogue. Sister Dianne Maddox kicks things off in the following article where she imagines what it would be like to have Brother Alexander Cherry over to her home for dinner more than a century ago.

In 1904, the average life expectancy was 47 years. Fourteen percent of the homes had a bathtub and 8 percent had a telephone. There were 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads. The average wage was 22 cents an hour. Eggs cost 14 cents a dozen, and coffee was 15 cents a pound. Twenty percent of adults couldn’t read or write, and 6 percent of Americans had graduated high school.

"O Holy Night" has been one of my favorite Christmas hymns since I can remember. Though, I can't say that I've heard it sung during congregational singing much. Maybe that's because it's a tough song to sing since much of it is written in higher notes. It surely isn't because of the words or the message that the song brings, which is one of hope and salvation.

Christmas is my most favorite time of the year!

I love playing Christmas songs and baking cookies with our daughter. I love hearing our children laugh as they come back inside our home all rosy-cheeked from sledding. I enjoy hearing their stories of who went the fastest and how many times someone fell in the snow.

I love watching Christmas movies together as a family and enjoying my cup of coffee. I look forward to making homemade cinnamon rolls every year for Christmas morning; it's one of my favorite family traditions.

I just love this time of year. It gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling.

When I think about Christmas — and especially its tunes — I tend to love the ones that have a special meaning more than any others. Perhaps it’s the time of year and what the season truly means, or perhaps it’s because I write for a living and words mean a lot to me.

One of my favorite songs to listen to during the holidays is “I Come with Love” by Harry Connick Jr. (surprise, surprise to anyone who knows me).

In a world that’s seemingly full of tragedies and evil at every turn, this song reminds me that there is something bigger at work. It reminds me that God had a purpose for sending His Son here — and it was to bring love to those who needed it most.

I can’t say it is easy to narrow down a Christmas song that inspires me during the Christmas season. Yet, the song that pricks my heart every time is “Mary Did You Know.” Perhaps it is because Mary has always intrigued me. As scriptures reveal, she was very special and chosen by God to bear His Son, Jesus. The lyrics of this song pose many questions to Mary that portray the life of Christ, such as miracles of healing, walking on water, calming the storm, etc.

I believe that Mary knew Christ was no ordinary child, and she took her calling very seriously. Like most mothers, she loved and nurtured her child and watched him grow. The scripture points out two occasions where she pondered things in her heart. The first mention of this is in Luke 2:19. This scripture depicts the manger scene and the amazement of all witnesses. Verse 19 says, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”

Have you ever realized you have no clue as to the meaning of a song you’ve been listening to for years? Or a scripture you’ve read over and over that never actually clicked until the 100th time? That was me with “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” a 279-year-old Christmas song I’ve always loved for its uplifting, celebratory, and classic Christmas-y feel, but never understood. Till now.

One would think, me, a Christmas Eve baby, a.k.a. that annoying person playing Christmas music way before Thanksgiving, would know all the season’s carols like the back of my hand. Turns out, not so much when it comes to the oldies. As a kid, I thought Herald was the name of one of the angels or something. To be fair, the song was written in super Old English that no one under the age of 279 could understand. And while beautifully poetic, it’s just plain confusing. But now that I’m an “adult,” I’ve realized there’s a big wonderful message about light, hope, and life I’ve been missing all along.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours on this day when we celebrate everything God has done for us!

To continue with our Christmas Playlist series that we kicked off earlier this week, Brother P. is sharing why he thinks that "O Come All Ye Faithful" fits the bill today.

Actually, it's not quite fa la la la la time just yet. Thanksgiving Day is the traditional start of the holiday season. Many of you have been anxiously awaiting Thanksgiving Day for one very specific reason. You're not exactly anticipating the turkey dinner or even the pie. You're not pining away for a football-watching marathon.

What you've been looking forward to is the nonstop Christmas music on the radio. (We all know who you are.)

To celebrate the start of the (early) holiday season — and 24/7 caroling on the airwaves — we're kicking off our 2018 Christmas Playlist series. Over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas, you'll read about the Christmas songs, traditional and contemporary, that our columnists hold dear to their hearts.

Rich,

Greetings from 25 years into the future. Typically time capsules are letters to yourself with future predictions, stored for a specific amount of time (like 25 years), and then opened to see what came true or did not. In this case, we'll look back from the future to provide some support and guidance.

First things first. God has a plan for you. The best thing you can do is lean on Him for guidance and direction. There are going to be challenges that you must face over the next 25 years in high school, college, your career, and your marriage — yes, you do get married, but I won't give you any spoilers. Some of those challenges are going to be because life is life, while others, unfortunately, will be self-inflicted.

Dear Younger Self,

First, let me tell you your life has been blessed! God is never going to let you down, and He’s going to perform miracles for you that you didn’t even know were possible.

Let’s start with the basics:

In middle and high school, don’t worry about who is going to be your friend — you’re actually not going to want to hang out with some of those kids after you get baptized! — and don’t pretend to be less smart just because you think you need to “fit in.” Embrace the way you were made. Your freckles are actually cute; your nose isn’t too small; and you don’t need self-tanner — you actually need sunscreen, daily! (You’ll be at peace with your glow-in-the-dark light skin soon enough.) Also, God will lead you to your career — He knows best!