{"id":3999,"date":"2016-12-28T07:37:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?p=3999"},"modified":"2016-12-28T07:47:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:47:47","slug":"rejoice-still-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejoice! It’s Still Christmas!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s #WorthRevisit post was originally published on the WINE: Women In the New Evangelization blog<\/a>, last December. Today is the fourth day of Christmas.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me \u2026 six geese a-laying.<\/em><\/p>\n

For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. Christmas trees are on the curb, and decorations are packed away for another year. But in our Catholic Church, we are still in the midst of the Christmas season, as conveyed by the popular carol\u00a0The Twelve Days of Christmas<\/em>. (The first day of Christmas is Dec. 25, and the twelfth day is Dec. 5, the eve of Epiphany.)<\/p>\n

Legend says that the song was written to teach catechism to children at a time when Roman Catholic instruction was prohibited in England. Each gift from our \u201ctrue love\u201d symbolizes an element of our faith. Today\u2019s\u00a0six geese a-laying<\/em>\u00a0represent the six days of creation.<\/p>\n

The song has never been a favorite of mine, unless we\u2019re talking about the Muppets\u2019 version with Miss Piggy\u2019s \u201cba-dum-bum-bum\u201d sprinkled throughout. But I have grown to appreciate the symbolism of the lyrics as a reminder to not rush the Christmas season.<\/p>\n

The Advent season is richly emphasized as a preparation period for our hearts and homes for the birth of Jesus. We pour over Scripture readings and daily reflections. We light candles and hang ornaments on a Jesse Tree. We attend Confession. We clean and decorate, cook and bake, shop and gift wrap.<\/p>\n

All of Advent is active and focused and leads us to packed churches on Christmas Day, followed by busy family gatherings with sugared-up children opening gifts in a frenzy. And it is good, festive and fun! But with our active Advent, hustle and bustle, we can feel exhausted by Christmas Day. We can feel ready to join the world in packing up Christmas for another year \u2026 And the season has only just begun.<\/p>\n

So how can we\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0feel ready to get back to normal? How can we relax into this Christmas season, appreciating the twinkling lights, the manger scene and the mess that tends to linger with the extra cookies, new gifts, and additional decorations around the house?<\/p>\n

After the active anticipation and joyful preparation for the birth of our newborn King, it is only fitting to dwell with Jesus, Mary and Joseph for as long as possible. We have spent so much time getting ready, why not linger a bit now that Who we\u2019ve been preparing for has arrived?<\/p>\n

So, relax! Don\u2019t worry about the mess of giftwrap and boxes, the extra calories, the pine needles falling on the floor. Turn on the Christmas lights, play a favorite Christmas CD, wrap up in a warm blanket, read the daily readings, pray in thanksgiving for the amazing miracle that has just taken place. It is (still) Christmas! Let us rejoice and savor the season.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

To read more #WorthRevist posts, please visit Allison at Reconciled to You<\/a> and Elizabeth at Theology is a Verb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Rejoice!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s #WorthRevisit post was originally published on the WINE: Women In the New Evangelization blog, last December. Today is the fourth day of Christmas. *** On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me \u2026 six geese a-laying. For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. Christmas trees are on the curb, and decorations are packed away for another year. But in our Catholic Church, we are still in the midst of the Christmas season,…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[70,26],"class_list":["post-3999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-worthrevisit","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\nRejoice! It's Still Christmas!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rejoice! It's Still Christmas!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sarah Damm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"headline\":\"Rejoice! It’s Still Christmas!\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png\",\"keywords\":[\"#worthrevisit\",\"Christmas\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"Rejoice! It's Still Christmas!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png\",\"width\":720,\"height\":340},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rejoice! It’s Still Christmas!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sarah Damm\",\"description\":\"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\",\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"width\":1152,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Sarah\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rejoice! It's Still Christmas!","description":"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rejoice! It's Still Christmas!","og_description":"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!","og_url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/","og_site_name":"Sarah Damm","article_published_time":"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":340,"url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sarah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_site":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"headline":"Rejoice! It’s Still Christmas!","datePublished":"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/"},"wordCount":508,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","keywords":["#worthrevisit","Christmas"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/","name":"Rejoice! It's Still Christmas!","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","datePublished":"2016-12-28T13:37:54+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-28T13:47:47+00:00","description":"For much of our world, Christmas has come and gone. But in our Catholic Church, the Christmas season has only just begun! So, let's rejoice!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","width":720,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/rejoice-still-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rejoice! It’s Still Christmas!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/","name":"Sarah Damm","description":"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a","name":"Sarah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","width":1152,"height":1152,"caption":"Sarah"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Rejoice_StillChristmas.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p86xr0-12v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4010,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions\/4010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}