{"id":357,"date":"2015-12-02T17:44:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T17:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/?p=357"},"modified":"2016-05-09T15:21:44","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:21:44","slug":"getting-into-the-spirit-the-advent-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/getting-into-the-spirit-the-advent-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Into The Spirit, The Advent Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here we are! We have officially started Advent, our waiting time for Christmas. I am not sure about you, but I feel as if this year has gone by quicker than 2014 did. On top of that, I feel many of us are still rushing. Instead of \u201cPrepare the way for the Lord,\u201d I feel like the motto is, \u201cHurry! Hurry! Hurry! Let\u2019s rush through Advent so that by the time we get to Christmas we are so sick of the \u2018holiday spirit\u2019 we just want it to end.\u201d This definitely does not seem like the right attitude to me.<\/p>\n<p>While it is easy to get caught up in the Christmas season like everyone else, I feel like a lot of the time we are missing the most important part. After all, getting there is half the fun right? So before you break out singing \u201cJingle Bells,\u201d take a few minutes to realize what exactly you are doing.<\/p>\n<p>Advent lasts for four weeks. Because\u00a0we forget\u00a0about where we really are in the year, these four weeks\u00a0usually drain us of our Christmas spirit so we are empty by the time we reach December 25<sup>th<\/sup>. How many people put up their Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving? Or even before then? They see this tree for four or more weeks and then the day of December 26<sup>th<\/sup>, they tear it down. It\u2019s understandable as they are tired of the overbearing evergreen being planted in their living room.<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be nice though if we weren\u2019t tired of the tree by the time Christmas rolled around? Wouldn\u2019t it be nice to not\u00a0feel burned out the day after Christmas? If you are reading this and going, \u201cYes, yes, tell me more!\u201d then keep reading for a few tips.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_363\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-363\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gowallace-002-site1.dtempurl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-363\" src=\"http:\/\/gowallace-002-site1.dtempurl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Advent!\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Depositphotos_16927949_original-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-363\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Happy Advent!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">First off, there is no rule you have to put up the tree right after Thanksgiving. In my family, it is a tradition to put up and decorate the tree on Christmas Eve. For the days following December 25<sup>th<\/sup> (the 12 days of Christmas) the tree is still new to us and we are definitely not tired of it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Turn off the Christmas music! If you never get tired of hearing \u201cFrosty the Snowman\u201d good for you. However, for the rest of us, if you want to enjoy Christmas music on (get this) Christmas day, then wait to pop in your CD of carols. Trust me, Advent music exists as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Wait to decorate. We usually deck out our house with Christmas decorations on the third week of Advent. Again, you won\u2019t get tired of staring at the same red bows every single day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Celebrate the days of Advent. Whether you use an Advent calendar or tear a strip off a paper chain, make sure you are celebrating the journey.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>You can tell people \u201cHappy Advent,\u201d instead of \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d Every time I greet someone like this, they almost always get a look on their face that says, \u201cOh yeah. We are still in Advent.\u201d Isn\u2019t it nice to be reminded what time of the year it really is?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I hope these suggestions help. Wishing you all a Happy Advent! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here we are! We have officially started Advent, our waiting time for Christmas. I am not sure about you, but I feel as if this year has gone by quicker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/getting-into-the-spirit-the-advent-spirit\/\" class=\"more-link\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"5 tips for a great Advent.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,19],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7urq8-5L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myschoolyear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}