{"id":8617,"date":"2026-01-21T14:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/?p=8617"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:35:23","slug":"savannas-sayings-the-true-spirit-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/savannas-sayings-the-true-spirit-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Savanna’s Sayings: The true spirit of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cJust remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart.\u201d -Santa, <\/b>The Polar Express<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Christmas season is among the most magical times of the year. Despite the arguments of when it actually begins (the day after Thanksgiving, obviously), it brings people together in so many ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

People celebrate by going to church on Christmas Eve, hanging the stockings by the fireplace, picking out a tree at the local Christmas tree farm, and so much more. Some drink hot cocoa by the fire when it snows, and others bake cookies and carol around neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of my personal favorite Christmas traditions happens the day before: my sister and I always get a new set of Christmas pj\u2019s to wear on Christmas Eve, and then we read \u201cThe Night Before Christmas\u201d and go to bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The traditions are endless! Though all of those make Christmas the most holly jolly time of the year, the most popular one by far is opening presents on Christmas morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s every kid\u2019s dream! Running as fast as you can downstairs to see the lit-up tree with gifts stacked under it, then running back to Mom and Dad\u2019s bedroom begging them to get out of bed so you can open presents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember the feeling now?<\/span><\/p>\n

I will say, I don\u2019t do that anymore. I spend more time soaking in the Christmas spirit with the music in my car on the way to school, the red and green clothes, and all of the holiday performances. The presents aren\u2019t the forefront of my mind until we hit Christmas break. And isn\u2019t that the way it should be?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do we have to worry so much about the gifts all the time, or can we just simply focus on being humble? The giving, not getting? Every January, my house seems to fill with meaningless \u201cstuff\u201d as the magical feeling of Christmas slowly drifts away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gifts are great – don\u2019t get me wrong – but they shouldn\u2019t take the center of Christmas. “<\/span>A Christmas Carol”<\/span> demonstrated that very well, that having a Scrooge-like mindset, revolving around greed, isn\u2019t what Christmas should be like at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, focus on the rest of it. The magical part. The hot cocoa and cozy blankets, the dinners with family, the gingerbread houses, the Christmas music on the radio. Soak up the wonder and joy of Christmas with the ones you love and those who love you.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the true spirit of Christmas.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cJust remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart.\u201d -Santa, The Polar Express The Christmas season is among the most magical times of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":8306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montoursville.k12.pa.us\/thearrowhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}