{"id":18557,"date":"2016-12-14T14:44:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=18557"},"modified":"2016-12-14T14:44:34","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:44:34","slug":"lets-get-started-on-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=18557","title":{"rendered":"Let’s get started on Christmas!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"screen-shot-2014-12-07-at-1-14-15-pm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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This is the most wonderful season of the year! \u00a0Please allow me to make a few suggestions that will make this your\u00a0best Christmas ever!<\/p>\n

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Find someone in need and help them.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0There are tons of orginizations that use this season to spread God’s love. \u00a0Toy drives, Christmas baskets collecting food for the needy, home visits for the elderly, even visitng the local shelter to volunteer. \u00a0The greatest joy of Christmas is giving, and it is never more satisfiying than when it is to those, truly in need!<\/p>\n

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Take time to relive the real Chrismas story.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0Read the story of Christmas in Luke 2: 1-20. \u00a0Ponder the significance for all mankind that God sent His only Son to earth to teach us and die for our sins, no greater Gift \u00a0has ever been given.<\/p>\n

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Spend time with family<\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0 If\u00a0you are close to your family, break bread with them and enjoy all the great memories of Christmas’ past. \u00a0If \u00a0you are estranged from anyone, there is no better season for forgiveness and restablishing the love that was once part of your lives. \u00a0No hurt is so deep that God’s love and his Grace and Forgiveness can’t overcome it! \u00a0After all, that is why Christ came!<\/p>\n

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Take time to watch to very important Christmas films, It’s A Wonderful Life and your favorite version of A Christmas Carol.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0May I recommend the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge, truly a classic!<\/p>\n

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On Christmas Eve read your children or grandchildren the story of Christmas in Luke and Twas The Night Before Christmas, hopefully around a roaring fire in the fireplace!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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As family gathers, put on your portrait lens and sneak in some casual portraits of your family members.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Trust me these will someday be your most important images!<\/p>\n

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Surprise your spouse with something special she or he is not expecting and use it as a way to honor them and their contribution to your life and the life of your family.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Take time to privately worship the Man that the season is in honor of. \u00a0Ask Him to come into your heart and make you the man or woman you \u00a0know you “should” be! \u00a0If you ask He will!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Merry Chrismtas,<\/p>\n

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the pilglrim<\/p>\n

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  This is the most wonderful season of the year! \u00a0Please allow me to make a few suggestions that will make this your\u00a0best Christmas ever!   Find someone in need and help them. \u00a0There are tons of orginizations that use this season to spread God’s love. \u00a0Toy drives, Christmas baskets collecting food for the needy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18559,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557\/revisions\/18559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}