We live in a squabbling society: we squabble over sports, we squabble over politics, we squabble at home, at work and at play.

Arguing seems to have risen to an art form while empathy seems to have fallen from favor. Perhaps technology encourages this by providing a universal venue to vent. Whatever the cause, we live in a world that encourages us to pick sides, set opinions and passionately proclaim them to all who will listen.

Against this backdrop we approach the holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas have traditionally been a time to promote peace, love and gratitude. In recent years even this season has been marred by strongly held opinions.

One side prefers happy holidays, HO HO HO and reindeer; the other favors Merry Christmas, the babe in a manger and shepherds. Each side claims to hold the moral high ground and attempts to shout down the other. One might reasonably ask: What happened to the traditional good feelings of the season?

The answer lies within each of us. What if, in the spirit of holiday season, we unilaterally disarmed? For example, we could refuse to take offense at a greeting. I love to hear “Merry Christmas” but “Happy Holidays” is no affront to me. Once “holidays” implied Holy Days; seen in this light I can be happy to hear either greeting.

When I see a red-suited Santa, I could see a crass secular symbol or I could choose to see him as a symbol of Christ. Isaiah spoke of the Savior of the world as one who tread the wine press alone and was red in his apparel. In this light, Santa is no threat to my family or my children.

I am aware of secular attacks on Christianity. In my children’s text books B.C. (before Christ) is being replaced by B.C.E. (before the Common Era) further removing Jesus Christ from our culture. As a Christian, I do not condone such changes, nor can I ignore the erosion of Judeo-Christian values in our society.

My response is to personally embrace what is good. I believe virtue is attractive, by that I mean virtue has a kind of spiritual gravity that draws people to it. As I strive to embrace virtue and teach my children correct principles, I have found valuable resources to support my efforts. I will mention just three:

First, and perhaps most effectively we read scriptures together as a family. This is a hard habit to start but once started it becomes hard to stop. We have found reading scripture is powerful. Talking about the scriptures or telling Bible stories, while good, is just not the same.

Second, we watch videos from BibleVideos.org. These are quite literal representations of King James Version bible stories. We particularly like the ones representing the birth of the Savior. One of our Christmas traditions is to watch the one from Luke chapter 2 before opening presents.

Third, the first weekend of December each year our church presents a nativity event for the community. It is a presentation of Christ-centered art, over 300 nativity scenes from around the world, Christmas music and concerts.  It is a wonderful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is coming and it could change us. If we embrace virtue and rise above the squabbling of the world, we can have the peace the angels promised at the Savior’s birth.

Randal Nicholls, Federal Way Washington Stake president, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints