{"id":177,"date":"2011-12-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/so-how-was-your-christmas\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T04:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:21:20","slug":"so-how-was-your-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/so-how-was-your-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"So How Was Your Christmas?"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>Christmas brings out the best in humanity.  You see it everywhere.\nYou see it in everyone.  \n\nHeart-warming stories, joyous greetings, hugs and laughter, phone calls and\ncards, home-baked goodies, treasured gifts, scrumptious meals, candlelight\nservices, family traditions . . .\n\nThe season is filled with an abundance of love and peace.\n\nOh, please make it last.  Don't let it end.  \n\nBut, December 26 arrives and life goes back to its normal routine. Families\nsay good-bye and travel back home.  Workers return to their jobs.  Bills\ncome in the mail.  Everything as usual.  \n\nFriends and co-workers ask, \"Did you have a good Christmas?\"\nThe answers are usually affirmative and include an account of where you\nwent and what you got.  \n\n\"Oh, yes, we went to Mom and Dad's and I got the most beautiful sweater!\"\n\nHow about we change this?\n\nHow about we uninstall the programmed responses and reach down in our\nhearts to pull out something that is filled with meaning?\n\nThat's what my plan is . . . to give an answer that keeps the spirit of\nChristmas alive.\n\nInstead of a rote answer, I will share something that moved me, touched me,\nchanged me.\n\n\"Did you have a good Christmas, Trisha?\"\n\n\"Oh yes, I was immersed in gratefulness for the gift of Bruce's family who\nhave welcomed me and loved me and returned the Light of Christmas to my\nheart.\"\n\n\"Oh yes, I received the best gift . . . a trip to visit my daughter who is\nin prison.\"\n\n\"Oh yes, I have the most wonderful picture and memory of Bruce's 79 year\nold mom reading us the Christmas story.\"\n\n\"Oh yes, we held church at home on Christmas morning, in the living room\nlistening to a sermon on an old cassette by Bruce's uncle whom I never\nmet.\"\n\n\"Oh yes, I was reminded over and over how much I love the people in my life\nand how much they love me.\"\n\nHow about you?\n\nDid you have a great Christmas?\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas brings out the best in humanity. You see it everywhere. You see it in everyone. Heart-warming stories, joyous greetings, hugs and laughter, phone calls and cards, home-baked goodies, treasured gifts, scrumptious meals, candlelight services, family traditions . . . The season is filled with an abundance of love and peace. Oh, please make it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/bruceandtrisha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}