{"id":22235,"date":"2018-11-15T15:02:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=22235"},"modified":"2018-11-15T15:02:44","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:02:44","slug":"inside-aurora-face-it-embrace-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-face-it-embrace-it\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Face It & Embrace It"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid, Aurora, that it\u2019s time to face and embrace the inevitable: it\u2019s now Christmas season.
\nI know it\u2019s barely mid-November and we just got through Remembrance Day. In fact, you\u2019re probably still finishing off the last of the leftover Halloween candy.
\nBut with six weeks to go and no other major holidays or other events in sight to slow down the momentum, there\u2019s no stopping the oncoming festive juggernaut.
\nAs much as most people want it to be at least December before digging out the ornaments, or discovering that most radio stations are playing Christmas music 24\/7, there are some advantages to getting into the spirit early.
\nAfter all, it\u2019s much nicer to put up the outside lights and decorations on a sunny fall November day. It doesn\u2019t mean you need to light them up every night to much eye rolling from your neighbours, but at least they\u2019ll be ready to go.
\nThe alternative is to perch precariously on a slippery ladder on a windy, dark, sub-zero December day.
\nAnd when you\u2019re outside setting this up, if you do find that you need a new string of lights, you\u2019re likely to find them at your local hardware store this month. I know from experience that if you try to pick up some specific bulbs in early December, you\u2019re likely to find the supply already completely sold out with no more expected in until October 2019.
\nYou snooze, you lose.
\nAlthough on-line shopping has taken some of the physical running around out of the gift giving season, at least one trip to the mall this time of year is inevitable.
\nMaking this trek in November makes it much easier to get there on the more lightly travelled and less snowy roads. When you do get there, you\u2019re much more likely to find a parking spot, or at least, one within sight of the mall.
\nOnce inside, there are fewer jostling crowds, smaller lines at the stores, and the general levels of anxiety and panic amongst shoppers are at a lower ebb.
\nSimilarly to the availability of decorations noted above, the shelves in all stores are full of product, whether they be clothing, jewelry, tech items, sporting goods, or anything else you may be looking for.
\nIn contrast, we\u2019ve all seen the annual pre-Christmas news reports of mobs of people fighting over the last available copy of the latest must-have children\u2019s toy.
\nAnd if you can\u2019t stand the thought of listening to Christmas carols being played over tinny sound systems in the mall, you can always use your ear buds. That will also help mitigate the risk of listening to the mind numbing calypso version of Frosty the Snowman playing as an ear worm in your head for the next three days.
\nBetter yet, you get to sit back through December and enjoy the passing parade, when everyone else is running around in a tizzy trying to cram decorating, shopping, wrapping and every other activity else associated with the season into a rapidly decreasing window of opportunity.
\nSpeaking of parades, Aurora\u2019s Santa Under the Stars parade will be upon us in no time. Why not use that as your unofficial deadline to get, if not everything, at least a good chunk of your festive \u2018to do\u2019 list done.<\/p>\n

Then you can just sit back and enjoy the season. <\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston I\u2019m afraid, Aurora, that it\u2019s time to face and embrace the inevitable: it\u2019s now Christmas season. I know it\u2019s barely mid-November and we just got through Remembrance Day. In fact, you\u2019re probably still finishing off the last of the leftover Halloween candy. But with six weeks to go and no other major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5MD","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 01:31:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}