The traditional time-honored stories and beloved tales associated with Christmas are indispensable to the celebrations-Good King Wenceslas, for example, or Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from Saint Nicolas," Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl," O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," and even a New York Sun newspaper column addressed to a concerned young girl named Virginia. Each of these Christmas stories personifies a reminder that this is a time of joy, hope, compassion, mercy, and love. But the greatest Christmas story of all, the one most central to the season, is the story of a Holy Child born in a humble manger. That Nativity story begins the ultimate expression of love-a divine love extended to all who ever lived-and is the reason for our eternal hope.

Lavishly decorated with books of all sizes, the stage in the 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City became a "library" for The Tabernacle Choir's celebration of these myriad Christmas stories. There were tales told through music, dance, and narrative of excited shepherds on the hills outside of Bethlehem, of heroism during wartime, of sleigh rides and caroling, of the challenges of new motherhood, and of faith in a Savior who would redeem the whole world.

The Choir's special guests at this concert, famed actress and singer Lea Salonga and renowned star of television and film Sir David Suchet, joined in the storytelling and shared their own personal accounts of the truths celebrated at Christmas. With the Choir, Orchestra, and Bells at Temple Square, the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble, and dancers from the local community, all joined together to proclaim a joyful "Noel!" at the good news of Christ's birth.