One Christmas in particular stands out in my memory.
It was the first Christmas my husband and I celebrated as a married couple. We married in February so the first official newlywed Christmas
was many months after our wedding.
I'd had just enough time to come out of the shock
of finally understanding
how hard it is to be a full-fledged grown-up.
The stress of taking care of myself, my husband, a new baby, a house, (I could go on and on)
was finally subsiding and I felt my confidence surge again.
I was ready to be brave and resourceful for Christmas.
I was THE MOM!!! I could do anything!!

I began making my own decorations.
At that point, I had yet to discover HGTV, if it even existed in 1988,
so my decorations were limited
to lots of glittered pieces of construction paper,
just a big mess stuck together with Elmer's Glue.
I bought the smallest tree I could find, and believe me, it was SMALL! I licked green stamps and quality stamps till I had no moisture left in my body at all. But I was so proud of my family and my efforts to make a happy memory for all.

When gifts were handed around, I held my breath that it would be good enough. That I wouldn't have supplied a new item for next summer's garage sale. Surprisingly, everyone was happy with the gifts and I could breathe again. All the scrimping and saving, all the budgeting, all the glue under my fingernails was not in vain.
And I had made it through my first "adult" Christmas.
I could relax now and look forward to spending the entire Christmas Day with my new husband and new baby.
I knew we had very little money left, so I didn't expect any gifts.
We had spent the last of our budgeted Christmas allotment
on our baby.

Christmas Eve, just before bed,
I guess the excitement got the best of him.
My beloved husband, Tim, laid a very small box in front of me.
Inside were the first pair of pearl earrings I've ever owned.
And all I got him was a coffee mug :0)