{"id":413,"date":"2008-12-16T18:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T23:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2008-12-16T18:20:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T23:20:00","slug":"christmas-cheers-christmas-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Cheers&#8230; Christmas Tears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SUg62W5SshI\/AAAAAAAABCk\/KoAyd1mV_vI\/s1600-h\/90_15_57---Christmas-Tree_web.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SUg62W5SshI\/AAAAAAAABCk\/KoAyd1mV_vI\/s400\/90_15_57---Christmas-Tree_web.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280535268625134098\" \/><\/a><br \/>Last night I was up late wrapping gifts.  (Usually I am wrapping Christmas Eve&#8230; so this is good!)  As I wrapped, I began to get excited!  I love Christmas.  I love gifts&#8230; giving gifts&#8230; thinking of gifts and shopping for gifts!  It is the best feeling in the world.<br \/>I wish I could freeze the moment the gifts are opened.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas cheer was oozing out of me!  Then this evening I felt a bit of the blues overtaking my emotions.  I am reminded of that fine line&#8230; love and hate&#8230; happiness and sadness&#8230; Christmas is always a little sad &#8230; it is always there.  It is an underlining emotion that i can never shake.<\/p>\n<p>I guess there is so loss that Christmas represents.  I know this is true with so many friends.  I remember last Christmas chatting with some friends on this topic&#8230; and the tears welling in eyes.  Missing of parents&#8230; missing the relationship of a parents.  So as I focus on this time of love, peace, joy, of celebrating the gift of God&#8217;s gift&#8230; I remember you.<\/p>\n<p>You are not along in your sadness or loss.  It is OK to feel that loss&#8230; that only comes from loving someone.  Just know that I pray that the season&#8217;s love and blessing fill your heart&#8230; and that void is less of a void shared.<\/p>\n<p>So as I allow myself to feel the sadness and losses of things that never were&#8230; I am so GRATEFUL for all the things that ARE now.<br \/>I am learning to release the past&#8230; and not let it weigh down my present.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of presents&#8230; I got some great ones today!  \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night I was up late wrapping gifts. (Usually I am wrapping Christmas Eve&#8230; so this is good!) As I wrapped, I began to get excited! I love Christmas. I love gifts&#8230; giving gifts&#8230; thinking of gifts and shopping for &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=413\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}