Good memories of the past.

 

Our First Christmas

My first Christmas as a married woman, was also my first Christmas as a mother.  We had very little money and didn’t know if we could get a tree.  A tree for a newly married couple means buying the tree, lights, and decorations.  That all added together meant lots of $$$$.  Being newly married I was scared to ask my husband if we could please spare some money and get a tree, we had so many needs at the time.  I wanted it to feel like Christmas and a tree would have done it, I thought. 

I was part of a Mom’s  group at the time and I went to the monthly meeting for December.  They informed us that if we met on a certain night and brought a saw a farmer was donating each of us a tree.  I was so excited, A TREE!  I only had a little car and I knew that the tree wouldn’t fit in there, so I borrowed my dad’s truck.  While asking for the truck I also asked if I could borrow a string of lights and a few decorations from my childhood . 

I loaded Eric up into the truck, he was only 3 months old.  Put Dad’s saw in the back and drove to the location.  I was on time, which is normal for me, but others were late.  They were so late that it was dark when we started out.  We got to the tree farm and it started to rain.  Many of the girls decided that it wasn’t worth is, but I was so desperate to get the tree, that a little rain and dark wasn’t going to stop me.  So I left my sleeping baby in the truck so he would stay warm and set out.  I was on my own with my saw and I found the perfect tree.  I cut it down, by myself and then drug it back to the truck.  I don’t know what anyone else was doing, I had to worry about myself and the baby.  I said goodbye to the leader of the Mom’s group and went on home. 

I put Eric into his swing, which he was already growing too big for, and with Jason’s help drug the tree into our little trailer.  Eric’s eyes got so big.  He couldn’t understand what we were doing.  I wish I could insert a picture here….it was cute, his eyes bulging out of his head  Leaning so far forward in the swing so that he could see everything we were doing.  Jason and I decorated with the decorations, plus the two ornaments I had bought.  Babies first Christmas and Our first Christmas.  My Mom allowed me to go through the Christmas stuff and pick out what was mine to keep and a few to borrow. 

One of the things that my Mom gave me to keep was the angel that I grew up putting on the top of our families Christmas trees.  I kept her safe for many years, but then a tragedy struck and she was ruined.  A replacement, almost exact replica sits on the top of my tree today-how she came to be there is another story.

So here we have an amazing Christmas tree sitting in our house and a very confused baby.  We had a wonderful Christmas that year.  Not because of the tree, but because we were a family and love filled that little home.  I never had to worry about weather or not we would have a tree again.  We have always found a way.

 

I am being flooded with wonderful memories and I can’t wait to write them down.  God is revealing to me who he made me to be through good memories.

~~~~~

I am:

strong, determined, loving, A Mom, A wife, victorious