Christmas will be GLORIOUS this year...

Because of our current challenge of hubby being off work for the next few months we have to be very careful with money during this Christmas Season... not that we are huge seasonal consumers during these months any year... but now especially we have to say no to wants and not spend for anything that is not absolutely necessary... this is so that we do not become a burden to anyone else... If we are really careful, I believe we can make it through this additional financial crisis without destroying our budget... unfortunately my health issues have already strained our budget quite a bit this year. But we will survive this... we pay an honest tithing and generous fast offering... we have followed council to avoid unnecessary debt... somehow the Lord will help us work this out.

Some people I have spoken to have bemoaned that fact that this challenge will put a damper on our holiday... but I disagree... Over the last few days hubby and I have been talking about Christmas, and now best to celebrate with our family... Family for us is a much broader term than it is with many people... But we will give more from the heart and less from our pocketbooks this year... and we normally gift shop through the year and so we have most of what we had planned to give away already purchased, where that was important. We will fill in with a few homemade gifts and some IOUs for later, on one or two things that we had been wanting to still do for our children...

Because hubby is allergic to pine spores we never have real trees so we already have our pretty tree and more decoration than we could possibly ever use... In fact I have been trying to give some away over the last few years but was finding it hard to give away things that have memories attached Christmas... still, I AM going to do a LOT more of that, this year... I will be gifting/sending these as my token of love to my friends and extended loved ones, with a note regarding the story behind the ornament, or decoration... (if you are a friend and reading this... try to act surprised when you open yours... [wink~wink])

We are going to concentrate on "making some joyful noises"... playing games we already have... doing things together when family members are here with us... and feeling gratitude for the Savior in even MORE deeper ways than we knew just a few short weeks ago.

One of the things that we are going to focus on this year even more is the knowledge that life is a wonderful gift from Father in Heaven... As hubby and I watched a loaned to us copy of Prince Caspian last night together, we were wrapped up in the story and cuddled together on our bed... holding hands as we like to do and then suddenly I was crying because I was so glad to be able to hold on to him... to know he was still here with me... Very little that we as humans work so hard to try and gain in this world meant much to me at that moment... even a house is simply a place to be warm, a place to feel loved and safe in... It does not need to be fancy... just clean and hopefully in good repair... that is something we have been working on and will continue to focus more on over the next year, more order and less stuff to clutter our hearts.

We want to focus on service too... remembering how much every single act of kindness and help we have been given has meant to us over the last couple weeks especially... We have been so blessed by small acts of loving service... cleaning, small home repairs, help moving furniture around to accommodate a wheelchair with a pair of legs extended (a man of 6'3" has very LONG legs) and a few meals brought in for us so that my energy could be spent taking care of hubby... each act of service is huge to us at this moment... and I want to remember that when I get to be on the other side of this gift again... Even an email message of love and prayers is so appreciated... no act of support is little, really...

I won't kid anyone... It takes almost all my energy every day just to take care of both of us... just doing the necessities... but I am so very grateful that hubby's injuries were not more serious than they are... and that eventually he will fully recover... that I will cheerfully do all I can to help him through this now and we will find what joy we can in this challenge... I don't say I will try to do it alone, or that I don't feel tired every day. We are accepting much physical help where it is offered... but our personal needs so far we are more comfortable with myself or our older son doing for hubby, if I can't...

So now my musings circle back to the Christmas Season and the reason for our celebration... Our Savior has given us so much... we have our family and good friends, we have the gospel and a forever perspective of life... so this year Christmas will be more special than ever, because we have been given gifts of love and life... In the last year we added a daughter-in-law and son-in-law and we love them so very much... and we are glad they will be part of our celebrations...