{"id":203,"date":"2009-12-25T11:45:54","date_gmt":"2009-12-25T16:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/?p=203"},"modified":"2010-01-03T01:32:32","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T06:32:32","slug":"christmas-togetherness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/christmas-togetherness\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas: A Time for Togetherness!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas is the time of year when friends and families can renew their connections to one another.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes, regretably, this seems to get lost in the commercialism of the holiday.\u00c2\u00a0 However, you do not have to let this be the case!\u00c2\u00a0 You can choose to pay special attention to the aspects of Christmas closeness … that really<\/strong> matter.<\/p>\n

Here are some ways to do just that on Christmas Day:<\/p>\n

1. \u00c2\u00a0 Enjoy breakfast together. Breaking bread has always been a great way to share stories and foster the idea of family. Decide who will host the meal.\u00c2\u00a0 Schedule the timing to best accommodate everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schedule.<\/p>\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0 Read the Christmas story.\u00c2\u00a0 Shared traditions can bring friends and family closer.\u00c2\u00a0 Remembering the reason why you are celebrating the holiday enhances the experience of the Day. Each person can take turns reading a portion of the story. For a new twist, have a few family members act out the Christmas story as one person narrates it.\u00c2\u00a0 Find that budding actor\/actress among you!<\/p>\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0 Hold a video family-friend gathering. Most laptops come with webcams installed these days. If you have a desktop it is quick and easy to hook up one. With an instant messaging program like Skype or Windows Live you can see as well as talk to friends and family members that are far away.<\/p>\n

Have those members who live close to one another gather at the home of one person. When everyone is together, start the video call. Everyone can go around the room and say what they are thankful for. You can all share the good times on Christmas morning even though some of you are far away.<\/p>\n

4.\u00c2\u00a0 Attend a church service. Agree with friends and family members to gather for this service to spend time in one another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s company.<\/p>\n

Overall, take your time to be together and enjoy the day.\u00c2\u00a0 Slow down … and experience the time together. Take time to savor each moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is the time of year when friends and families can renew their connections to one another. Sometimes, regretably, this seems to get lost in the commercialism of the holiday. However, you do not have to let this be the case! You can choose to pay special attention to the aspects of Christmas closeness … that really matter. For practical ideas on how to do so, read the post, “Christmas: A Time for Togetherness!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[13,16,12],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotional-healing","category-mental-healing","tag-communication","tag-creativity","tag-life-coach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalhealth-online.com\/mentalhealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}