Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Crescat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-04T16:52:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-11T02:37:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/files\/2015\/01\/chrismess-300x168.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katrina Fernandez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katrina Fernandez\" \/>\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\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html\",\"name\":\"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-04T16:52:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-11T02:37:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2\"},\"description\":\"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/\",\"name\":\"The Crescat\",\"description\":\"Fortified with vitamin BXVI. Not a substitute for regular mass attendance. Side effects may include mackerel snapping.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2\",\"name\":\"Katrina Fernandez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katrina Fernandez\"},\"description\":\"Mackerel Snapping Papist\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/author\/thecrescat\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...","description":"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing","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":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...","og_description":"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html","og_site_name":"The Crescat","article_published_time":"2015-01-04T16:52:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-11T02:37:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/files\/2015\/01\/chrismess-300x168.png"}],"author":"Katrina Fernandez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katrina Fernandez","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html","name":"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-04T16:52:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-11T02:37:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2"},"description":"... I couldn't take it anymore. The tree had to go. Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/","name":"The Crescat","description":"Fortified with vitamin BXVI. Not a substitute for regular mass attendance. Side effects may include mackerel snapping.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/c9dc4618a6b6ed3f289501dad3a031b2","name":"Katrina Fernandez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63fb79a49cad186031168f8db7e7abe1?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Katrina Fernandez"},"description":"Mackerel Snapping Papist","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/author\/thecrescat"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":15244,"date":"2015-01-04T11:52:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T16:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?p=15244"},"modified":"2015-01-10T21:37:33","modified_gmt":"2015-01-11T02:37:33","slug":"begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2015\/01\/begone-you-wilted-bane-of-my-existence-i-can-still-celebrate-christmas-without-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Begone, You Wilted Bane of My Existence. I Can Still Celebrate Christmas Without You…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026 I couldn\u2019t take it anymore. The tree had to go. <\/p>\n

$\"chrismess\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Christmas. More like chrismess. Needles and dead greenery everywhere. And the crippled, pathetic thing kept tipping over. <\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t mistake me. I\u2019m no Grinch, typically I\u2019m a Christmas purists who keeps her tree up at least until Epiphany. I tried keeping all the decorations up until Candlemas one year but, oh, the fire hazard. <\/p>\n

I just don\u2019t get how dead<\/em>, shriveled greenery is supposed to recall the birth<\/em> of Christ. I suppose in that sense I can see the allure of fake trees, if fake trees weren\u2019t such an unholy abomination that makes the Baby Jesus Weep<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This is the year I\u2019ve decided you don\u2019t need picture perfect decorations to keep the spirit of Christmas alive through the season. Really all it takes, in the way of decorations, is a simple nativity icon<\/a> and a single candle. <\/p>\n

While all the decorations are beautiful, they can be a distraction. In my case, it just becomes more work and who needs more work? A single icon, prominently displayed, does more to draw my focus toward Christmas than a house full of decorations, which can start to feel overwhelming after a few weeks. <\/p>\n

I know it seems contrary to remove decorations in order to focus more on the party, but technically speaking, it\u2019s not so much the party that\u2019s important but the Host. <\/p>\n

Even though the rest of the world has moved on there are tons of little things you can do to continue to celebrate Christmas. <\/p>\n

Just because they\u2019ve stopped playing Christmas music on the radio doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t continue to listen to Christmas music. Pandora.com<\/a> has some really nice channels that let you hear Classical Christmas music and Choral Christmas Hymns. That stuff on the radio is mostly garbage anyway<\/a>. Invest in a CD or two to play in the car, home, or at work \u2013 something like this<\/a> or this<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Change out your typical daily prayers with Christmas themed prayers. There are loads of resources online. Catholic Culture<\/a> or Catholic Online<\/a> is a good start. <\/p>\n

And just because the Angel Trees have been removed from the malls doesn\u2019t mean our charitable giving has to cease. A lot of shelters need volunteers after the holiday to help organize, sort, and distribute the influx of donations they received last month. Sponsor a child or elderly person this year<\/a> or just decide to be more charitable in character to the people involved in your life. <\/p>\n

And lastly, be an example of humility. Christ\u2019s birth in the manager is the epitome of humility. I\u2019m no expert on humility, but I know personally where I can start. I can chose my battles and suppress the need to always be right. I can set aside my intellectual pride and liturgical superiority complex in favor or charity, patience, kindness and understanding. I\u2019m certainly in no position to tell you were you need to practice more humility in your lives but I \u2018d wager you have a pretty good idea where to start.<\/p>\n

So Merry Christmas everyone and good riddance, tree! <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"