Studing for Dec

I have been reading the book of Luke this month. Since there are 24 chapters I will be reading one chapter a day up through Christmas eve. It has been wonderful reading about Christs conception, birth, life and ministry as I make preparations for Christmas. I am so grateful for this opportunity and the spirit it has brought to the holidays.
I am also studying about the Jewish tradition of swaddling clothes. This has been very interesting. When a man and women became betrothed, they did not visit each other during the betrothal. During the one to two years of betrothal the man would work on building a home and the women would also be working on things for their new life together. One of these would be embroidering a swaddling band. This band would be used in the marriage ceremony to wrap the couples hands. Latter the band would be worn as a girdle around the belly of the pregnant woman, then used to swaddle the child, then even used sometimes for the eventual purpose of wrapping the body for burial.
The symbols on the bands often indicated family history. Mary was from the tribe of Judah, so she may have used symbols common to that lineage such as a lion, a lamb, or a tree of life. As a descendant of David, she was also entitled to use the royal colors of blue and white. The symbolic significance of swaddling bands was so important that the embroidery on each side of the swaddling bands had to match exactly, with “right” and “wrong” sides indistinguishable. This symbolized the complete harmony of inner and outward life.As soon as I have done enough research I plan on embroidering a swaddling band.It might take some time until I can start because I want it to be as atheistic as I can make it. I am hoping I can have it done by April conference. Once I get the design figured out I will post some photos.