{"id":709,"date":"2015-12-11T19:48:31","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T19:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/?p=709"},"modified":"2015-12-11T19:48:31","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T19:48:31","slug":"what-has-christmas-become-by-julia-callini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/what-has-christmas-become-by-julia-callini\/","title":{"rendered":"What Has Christmas Become? by Julia Callini"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s Black Friday! The biggest shopping event of the year! Sarah had to wake up at 5:30 to get these sales. She heads over to the mall and heads instantly to the second floor. There resides Abercrombie, American Eagle, Aeropostale, Sephora, Victoria\u2019s Secret, Bath and Bodyworks, LuluLemon, H&M, Sephora, and so many more stocked with lots of merchandise, which prices are slashed for the Black Friday Sales. Sarah walks by a Goodwill pot and dressed up Santa, who is ringing a bell for money.
\nJeez, what a loser, Sarah thinks. These people shouldn\u2019t have become homeless in the first place, if they wanted Christmas gifts. <\/p>\n

She struts by without a second thought or making eye contact. <\/p>\n

This habit is all too familiar for the majority of the American population. Christmas means going to a commercial, retail shopping center and many department stores, decorated floor to ceiling with red and green, and buying to their hearts content (or their budget\u2019s content). <\/p>\n

I love Christmas. It\u2019s my favorite time of the year. I love decorating, getting a tree, and lighting Christmas scented candles. But most of all, I love giving gifts. I love seeing my friends and relatives faces when they open their gifts. <\/p>\n

We often forget that many people don\u2019t have family or friends, much less gifts and presents, decorated with shiny wrapping paper and bows, to open on Christmas day.
\nThis is just one of the reasons that we need to get out there and remind America that Christmas is more than just a big shopping spree. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go back a little over 2,000 years ago, to December 25, in Jerusalem. We are going back to the day Jesus was born. The reason we celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the day God\u2019s son was born. The reason we exchange gifts is because the three wisemen gave Jesus gift of frankincense (perfume), gold, and myrrh (an essential oil); Christmas trees symbolize the value of life, God\u2019s gift to humanity, says the Genesis 2:9. <\/p>\n

Now, for the most famous person in Christmas history, drumroll please\u2026
\nSANTA!!! <\/p>\n

An iconic Christmas sign, the man in the big red suit is everywhere during December- Commercials, taking pictures with children at the mall, ringing bells for change, or at the supermarket, giving out candy canes.<\/p>\n

Santa is based off St. Nicholas, a Christian saint born in southern Turkey. His parents raised him religiously, teaching him to sell what he does not need, and give to the poor. St. Nicholas gave his inheritance to poor. I suppose that this is where Santa Claus came from. Giving to poor and needy. <\/p>\n

Christmas is a special time of year, where everyone needs to love and to be loved. So this holiday season, remember what the holidays are really about. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Black Friday! The biggest shopping event of the year! Sarah had to wake up at 5:30 to get these sales. She heads over to the mall and heads instantly to the second floor. There resides Abercrombie, American Eagle, Aeropostale, Sephora, Victoria\u2019s Secret, Bath and Bodyworks, LuluLemon, H&M, Sephora, and so many more stocked with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waylandmiddleschool.org\/orange_black\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}