{"id":179,"date":"2013-12-15T18:13:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T18:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yogisden.us\/?p=179"},"modified":"2014-06-15T04:40:07","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T04:40:07","slug":"pondering-the-spirit-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"Pondering the Spirit of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN1159\"<\/a>
(Wreaths are one of my favorite decorations, and they include lights and candles, so much the better.)<\/p>\n

Christmas is a very complicated thing I think. We celebrate Christ’s birth at Christmas but everybody agrees that he was not born on Christmas. What is up with that?<\/span><\/p>\n

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(One of our several Nativity Scenes, we are keeping all of them!)<\/p>\n

Then the whole Nativity Scene thing. We’ve seen it a zillion times. You know, the baby Jesus, Mary Joseph, the various critters, shepherds, and the three Wise Men. It makes a great scene but that is not the way it happened. Not according to my Bible at least. My Bible doesn’t specify the number of Wise Men and it doesn’t say that they appeared at a manger. They appeared at a house and worshipped a young boy, not a baby.<\/span>

<\/span>Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to be snide or act superior. I’m a Christian and I love nativity scenes, we have more than one and I believe in the virgin Birth and that Christ is my savior. I’m not trying to change the way you celebrate Christmas. My point is that Christmas is more than a religious holiday.<\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"DSCN1152\"<\/a>
(Christmas trees on the Riverparks. I love’em.)<\/p>\n

What else is Christmas? Lets see, lots of decorations, Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf , concerts, holidays, egg nog, hot chocolate!! Oh yes, I love all that also.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"DSCN1184\"<\/a>
(Brian Setzer Orchestra. Wow, what a Christmas show. My first ever rockabilly Christmas.)<\/p>\n

And don’t forget gifts. It is fun to give gifts and it is fun to receive them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"SuperPizzaBoy's<\/a>
(Logan’s first Christmas. I love those little arms and legs and big smiles)<\/p>\n

Nothing like watching a baby or a young one enjoy Christmas. Nothing like watching a loved one open up a special present you got just for him or her. Hey, and I won’t lie, I love receiving presents. I really do. I freely admit it. Do I feel bad for those who are not as blessed as me and my family? Yes, I feel horrible about it. What do I do about it? Not much I’m afraid, Angle Tree gifts and some money in various pots and kettles and such. We can all do much better I think. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4317\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I like the little things about Christmas like the ranch owner who made a wreath out of rope, spray paint, and a bow and put it on a fence out in the middle of nowhere. I just love things like this. It is a gift to me and others from somebody. We don’t know each other but they gave us something out of the blue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bricktown<\/a>
(Warehouse district in Oklahoma City)<\/p>\n

I watch secular Christmas movies like Home Alone and others where they talk the “The Spirit of Christmas.” That always confuses me, what is the Spirit of Christmas. Maybe it is grace. Being kind to each other, even total strangers, in small acts and large. I think it is at the very roots of Christianity. I think though that Christmas has enough room in it for others besides Christians. It better, for there is a lot going on at Christmas that doesn’t have anything to do with Christianity.<\/span>

<\/span>So, what do you think the Spirit of Christmas is about?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Wreaths are one of my favorite decorations, and they include lights and candles, so much the better.) Christmas is a very complicated thing I think. We celebrate Christ’s birth at Christmas but everybody agrees that he was not born on Christmas. What is up with that? (One of our several Nativity Scenes, we are keeping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-pondering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}