{"id":833,"date":"2024-12-09T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/?p=833"},"modified":"2024-11-21T20:59:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T01:59:05","slug":"how-a-christmas-flunky-found-holiday-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/?p=833","title":{"rendered":"How a Christmas Flunky found Holiday Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I cannot lie. I stink at Christmas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some years, I don\u2019t even like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, there are the presents. I have friends who intuitively know how to find the perfect gift for everyone they love. I so envy them. I feel such pressure to find <em>just the right gifts<\/em> that I dread the start of the holiday season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, if I manage to find a decent gift, I feel the pressure to wrap it\u2014just so. It\u2019s not enough to have substance, there must also be <em>presentation.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My children will tell you they always know which packages are from Mom. Each has an extra square of wrapping paper taped to the bottom to cover the place where the paper doesn\u2019t quite meet in the middle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And those big, sparkly, wire-ribboned bows? I can barely tie my tennis shoes, let alone create something stunning to adorn my packages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not very good at decorating, either. My friends start scouting for trendy new additions to their d\u00e9cor as soon as Hobby Lobby sets out its Halloween\/Christmas display in August. Not me. I postpone it as long as possible unless I can talk one of my artsy daughters into helping me. If I didn\u2019t have grandchildren, I\u2019d skip the Christmas tree altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, the angst I felt about all things Christmas stole the joy from my celebration and made me dread it long before the December calendar page flipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe you\u2019re a Christmas flunky too. Maybe you despise our culture\u2019s pressure to make every Christmas bigger and better than the one before. Perhaps you too feel the desire to slow down, simplify, and savor, but you\u2019re not sure how to make it happen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I shared the rest of this story with the Our Daily Bread community on the God Hears Her blog. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.godhearsher.org\/blog\/how-a-holiday-flunky-found-christmas-joy\">CLICK HERE to read How a Holiday Flunky Found Christmas Joy.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/How-a-Holiday-Flunky-Found-Christmas-Joy-PIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-835\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/How-a-Holiday-Flunky-Found-Christmas-Joy-PIN.png 480w, https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/How-a-Holiday-Flunky-Found-Christmas-Joy-PIN-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/How-a-Holiday-Flunky-Found-Christmas-Joy-PIN-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cannot lie. I stink at Christmas.&nbsp; Some years, I don\u2019t even like it. First, there are the presents. I have friends who intuitively know how to find the perfect gift for everyone they love. I so envy them. I feel such pressure to find just the right gifts that I dread the start of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,37,82],"tags":[154,164,167,165,166,11],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-christian-living","category-family","tag-christian-christmas","tag-christmas-joy","tag-how-a-christmas-flunky-found-holiday-joy","tag-how-to-find-joy-in-christmas","tag-im-sad-at-christmas","tag-lori-hatcher"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a Christmas Flunky found Holiday Joy - Lori Hatcher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lorihatcher.com\/?p=833\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Christmas Flunky found Holiday Joy - Lori Hatcher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I cannot lie. 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