{"id":36250,"date":"2020-12-20T08:32:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T13:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=36250"},"modified":"2020-12-20T08:36:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T13:36:18","slug":"focus-on-the-good-this-for-this-most-unusual-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=36250","title":{"rendered":"Focus on the good for this most unusual Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s easy to be hung up on all of the bad things we\u2019re living through right now.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to list them all, you know them all too well and don\u2019t need me to remind you.<\/p>\n

So, as we head into Christmas week, I want to focus on the things we can celebrate \u2013 and yes, there are things.<\/p>\n

With all of the difficulties, we\u2019ve learned to appreciate the kindness and charity of the greater community. This is the year where one really can appreciate the concept, \u201cbut for the grace of God\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe, too, we\u2019ve learned to appreciate the sense of community we\u2019d come to take for granted. Being forced to largely exist within our own bubbles, we recognize how much we miss people, being around people. The shared experience of a blockbuster movie, that aural buzz one hears in a crowded restaurant. The crowd at a sporting event \u2014 whether pro sports or just local high school games.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m betting no one will take those experiences for granted when they return in 2021 \u2014 and appreciate them more.<\/p>\n

You have to think that folks will better recognize that opportunities and time pass quickly, and we need to focus on spending time with the people we love and not put it off as we might in earlier, busier times. Not being able to see family and friends creates a longing, a recognition of how important these folks are to our lives. Maybe it shouldn\u2019t take a pandemic to remind us, but we\u2019ve been reminded.<\/p>\n

Our Christmas \u2014 whether you celebrate the secular version or the religious version \u2014 will be different this year. Instead of the hustle and bustle and large family gatherings, it will likely be a quieter day with room for contemplation. But maybe that\u2019s not the worst thing. A day of peace is still a rare thing for many of us. Yes, we will miss those we normally share the holiday with, but there should be some solace in knowing we\u2019re helping to keep them safe.<\/p>\n

And it will make next Christmas that much more special \u2013 less of an ordeal to endure, but an even bigger reason to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Better days will be coming and the holidays will give us time to pause and get ourselves prepared for the last, difficult weeks before enough of us are vaccinated to finally put this era of crisis behind us.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t dwell on the bad news, the chaos or the division \u2014 you can\u2019t change it this week and there will be plenty of time to work through these issues in 2021. Be present for those you can spend time with and keep those you can\u2019t in your thoughts.<\/p>\n

Be kind to yourself, too. Indulge in an old favorite movie. Enjoy a book. Find ways to embrace a bit of peace in year that made it so difficult to find.<\/p>\n

Yes, these will be Christmas holidays like no other. Focus on the things you have, not what you do not and it will be easier to find joy.<\/p>\n

Stay safe.<\/p>\n

From all of us at The Times<\/em>, we wish you a peaceful and joyous Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa It\u2019s easy to be hung up on all of the bad things we\u2019re living through right now. I\u2019m not going to list them all, you know them all too well and don\u2019t need me to remind you. So, as we head into Christmas week, I want to focus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12305,1588,941,6518,267,11702,7111,12594],"class_list":["post-36250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-12305","tag-christmas","tag-family","tag-featured","tag-holidays","tag-joy","tag-love","tag-peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36254,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36250\/revisions\/36254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}