{"id":18936,"date":"2020-12-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alfiedog.me.uk\/?p=18936"},"modified":"2020-12-25T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T06:00:00","slug":"a-difficult-christmas-for-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/2020\/12\/25\/a-difficult-christmas-for-many\/","title":{"rendered":"A Difficult Christmas for Many – Friday 25th December 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A difficult Christmas for many<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today I recognise is a difficult Christmas for many. There are millions of people around the world who are separated from their loved ones. For some this means their first Christmas on their own and that is very hard. Many, who have lost loved ones, would be especially reliant on others at this time and we think of them especially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe in Better Times<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The difference between coping and failing to cope can be as simple as holding onto the belief that there are better times to come. It is vital to stay positive. It is all too easy to let yourself wallow in negative thoughts and your unhappiness becomes self-fulfilling. Focus if you can on the love and warmth that you do have in your life and of the better times you can enjoy when it is safe to do so. You are not alone in all this. We are all in it together. We all need to hope for a better tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wilma<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Giving more important than receiving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is not a Christmas to ask \u2018what will I get? This is a time to ask \u2018what can I give?\u2019 Never have small acts of kindness been so important. One of the greatest gifts we can all give is encouragement. A kind word here, a helping paw there, can do far more than we often realise. Funnily enough, when we help others, without realising we so often help ourselves. It can help us to appreciate all the good things we do have and they should not be underestimated. Even the gift of a smile can lighten the load carried by the recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message of Christmas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t matter whether you are a Christian, an atheist or belong to a different religion \u2013 the message of hope that underpins the Christmas story if for everyone. The Christmas story is about a gift of hope for the world. This Christmas it is our turn to believe in brighter days. They may not come tomorrow, or the day after. We may need to be patient, but those times will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay safe and let your day be filled with love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilma<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wilma’s Christmas message recognises this will be a difficult Christmas for many. Hold on to hope. It is important.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[123,146,93],"class_list":["post-18936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","tag-christmas","tag-covid-19","tag-wilma","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfiesdiary.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}