{"id":1163,"date":"2010-11-24T07:00:44","date_gmt":"2010-11-24T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2014-09-28T06:28:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T10:28:11","slug":"extra-simplifying-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/extra-simplifying-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra: Simplifying Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Days-259-Extra-Simplify.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1167\" title=\"Days 259 Extra - Simplify\" src=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Days-259-Extra-Simplify-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Although I try to reserve the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas as an Advent time of preparation and waiting, I know the rest of the world considers this the \u201cChristmas shopping season.\u201d I will spare you my rant about over-consuming at Christmas since you can read my spiritual and practical philosophy on the Advent\/Christmas season on my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/Spirituality.htm#SpiritualityArticles\">website<\/a>. Since \u201cBlack Friday\u201d is this Friday, however, following are my best tips for keeping the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas sane.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Be counter-cultural:<\/strong> Don\u2019t be a slave to the culture, advertisers, or expectations of others.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/PDF\/Xmas%20gifts%20summarized%20rev%2012-08.pdf\"><strong>Gift giving:<\/strong><\/a> Generosity is a virtue. BUT, do not confuse buying gifts with a measure of your love. Reduce the<strong> # <\/strong>of gifts by drawing names and minimizing obligation gifts. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/PDF\/Xmas%20gift%20giving%202.pdf\">Reduce the cost<\/a> by setting a dollar limit and giving services or other creative ideas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cleaning:<\/strong> Reduce the need to clean by using low lighting. Besides candles are compatible with an Advent ambiance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooking:<\/strong> Baking is nice as a substitute for store bought gifts, but not a measure of your holiness. Only do it if you truly enjoy it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decorations:<\/strong> Cultivate elegance not clutter by decorating simply and gradually. Consider \u201cChristmas physics\u201d &#8211;\u00a0 what goes up must come down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cards:<\/strong> If you enjoy writing a family letter, fine. If it\u2019s just a burdensome obligation, you are hereby released. A family update letter doesn\u2019t have to be at Christmas. Email counts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prayer &amp; Service:<\/strong> Both will keep you more balanced and happy than buying more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>PS: Last Sunday\u2019s roll-away bed has been claimed by the Covington Cold Shelter. Hurray!<\/p>\n<p>PPS: Want a \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uscatholic.org\/culture\/environment\/2010\/10\/ill-be-green-christmas\">Green Christmas<\/a>?\u201d Consider these ideas in US Catholic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although I try to reserve the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas as an Advent time of preparation and waiting, I know the rest of the world considers this the \u201cChristmas shopping season.\u201d I will spare you my rant about over-consuming at Christmas since you can read my spiritual and practical philosophy on the Advent\/Christmas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-1163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extra-fun","tag-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3615,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163\/revisions\/3615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}