{"id":2330,"date":"2014-11-22T22:39:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T03:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2014-11-22T22:47:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T03:47:18","slug":"spirit-of-the-season-on-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=2330","title":{"rendered":"Spirit of the season. On sale."},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Oh\u2026 the dreaded Black Friday.<\/p>\n

Believe it or not.. if you are waiting for the Friday after Thanksgiving to go shopping, you are already missing out on the “HUGE Black Friday Deals Going On NOW!\u201d\u00a0 Yessssirrreeee Bobby.\u00a0 Every store on the planet seems to be running such ads.<\/p>\n

Uggghhhhh.\u00a0 People.\u00a0 I ask you.\u00a0 What have we become?\u00a0 Honest to goodness.\u00a0 Black Friday starting two weeks before Thanksgiving?\u00a0 Christmas music piping in over the airwaves all the month of November?\u00a0 Christmas Candy was on the shelves before Halloween was over?\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure in a couple of weeks, we will be seeing Easter candy lining the aisles.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t mistake my disdain for dislike.<\/p>\n

I like Thanksgiving.\u00a0 I like Christmas.\u00a0 And Easter.\u00a0 There are always crazy-good meals on these days.\u00a0 You know\u2026 mashed-potatoes-and-gravy-kinds-of-meals.<\/p>\n

But the thing of it is\u2026 we\u2019ve lost all semblance of sanity when it comes to the Holidays.\u00a0 The whole gift-giving scenario of Christmas has grown to epic proportions.\u00a0 People are thugging each other the day after Thanksgiving to get $3 off a sweater.\u00a0 That\u2019s the spirit of Christmas I\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n

C\u2019mon people now.\u00a0 Smile on your brother.\u00a0 Everybody get together\u2026 try to love one another right now.<\/p>\n

If you detect a note of cynicism, you are right.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it will ever change, but we\u2019ve lost sight of the meanings of things.\u00a0 In theory, these are all great holidays.\u00a0 In practice, it is mostly a commercialized whirly-gig with a party on the side.<\/p>\n

It is a little unfair of me really.\u00a0 I mean, when I was a kid\u2026 I loved getting presents on Christmas morning!\u00a0 What kid really wants to sit at Mass for 90 minutes\u2026 when they could be shredding into wrapping paper and crunching on candy canes.<\/p>\n

But the wholeness is fading.<\/p>\n

Sitting still and reflecting.\u00a0 Being at peace\u2026..and seeking peace.\u00a0 Giving thanks.<\/p>\n

These are things we should be shopping for and giving.\u00a0 And you can only purchase them at one place\u2026 and all for the same price.<\/p>\n

It is in the everyday living of life.\u00a0 Showing up early, and opening a door for someone else.\u00a0 The door of compassion.\u00a0 Giving welcome.\u00a0 Giving comfort.\u00a0 Paying things back and forward, left and right.<\/p>\n

The currency comes from the heart. And the more you give, the more you receive.<\/p>\n

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 Gilbert K. Chesterton<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh\u2026 the dreaded Black Friday. Believe it or not.. if you are waiting for the Friday after Thanksgiving to go shopping, you are already missing out on the “HUGE Black Friday Deals Going On NOW!\u201d\u00a0 Yessssirrreeee Bobby.\u00a0 Every store on the planet seems to be running such ads. Uggghhhhh.\u00a0 People.\u00a0 I ask you.\u00a0 What have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}