Happy Tuesday, my friends! We had a great Thanksgiving and weekend that followed and now we're in full blown Christmas mode 🎄
David and I put up our tiny little pencil tree last night. I'm not sure that I like this small cottage living right now, but it is what it is, as they say. Yes, it's barely Christmas time and I'm complaining. Uggg. I'll get over it, but I've been feeling a little bit claustrophobic lately.
Then I found this star in our box of decorations and it had me reminiscing about all the years, all the houses, all the good times and different times we've had in our 34 years together.
This was the cardboard and tinfoil star we made the very first year we were married. 🌟
We were living in David's grandparent's old farmhouse - renting it for $100 a month. We had no furniture to call our own. Every single piece of furniture in the house was already there when we moved in.
But we were young and in love and we felt blessed. We barely had money to buy gifts for one another. We were both working and paying for college, but those were good days. We ate the same meals, week after week. We would take lunch in paper sacks and meet at the park before heading back to work and school.
At times David was working nights and going to school during the day and I worked days and left straight from work to attend night classes. We were two ships passing each other going opposite directions, but we made it work and we were so happy.
Eventually a baby came along and we moved out of that little farmhouse, bought some furniture of our own and became our own little family.
We earned a little bit more money, but now were living on one income and still didn't have much in savings. But we had our kids, a home, cars and still placed that star at the top of every tree, every year, as a reminder of where we came from.
We've had huge houses since then and now we have the smallest house we've ever had. If I've learned anything, it's that houses come and go, but it's what you take with you that matters.
The memories, the family, the love you still share after all these years.
The tinfoil star you still place at the top of the tree, to remind you of all you have to be thankful for and all that is to come.
No matter if we live big or small, I never want to forget all that God has blessed us with, even in the years that felt small. Those were some of the best years and what memories are made of. I suspect these will be too, one day.
Have a blessed day, my friends 💚
Until Next Time...
Blessings!
How special that you kept that star all these years.
ReplyDeleteThose beginning hard times makes marriages stronger I think. When you just have each other everything is special.
Hi Karen :) I agree! Those early years hold such precious memories of simplicity and hard work, love and determination. I wouldn't trade them for anything.
DeleteI love that star and that you still hang it year after year as a reminder. I certainly understand the complaining thing- you read about how I was feeling on the days leading up to Thanksgiving and the little pity party I was having. I feel like so many of us go through days just like that, especially during this wonderfully beautiful and sometimes sad season that we're in right now. This is just one reason why I love the art of writing- it helps us to process all those emotions. It seems that writing this post had that same affect on you.
ReplyDeleteThose early years in marriage are priceless! I was thinking on this same thing in our marriage last night as I was working on a writing project. I'd forgotten how the Lord walked with us through some very difficult situations in our early days, and like the person above said, it really did make our marriage stronger. We never thought twice about not having very much money- we just made it work. It was the same for us with working at first and then later living on just his income. I think that's what made our days as a family of six so special, though. It forced us to be creative in how we lived and our sons never knew that we didn't have much. They never went without one thing!
I love to remember all that God has done- He has been so very faithful to us as well. I hope you're having a good week!
Hi Jennifer :) I think you're so right about less money forcing us to be creative. Sometimes I miss the days when creativity and frugality were so ingrained into my brain. There's something to be thankful for when you have to think and get creative about how to spend or not spend. I used to hand make so many gifts, because that was my only choice. I would ration my gas, food, spending money all so much better than I do now. It's funny how you don't enjoy it when you're in that season, but later you can look back and see all the blessings.
DeleteDebbie!!! Nice to meet you...I'm so glad you stopped by to say hello and introduce yourself. A fellow Texan. Your words here on this blog post had tears welling up in me!! No truer words spoken. And to be able to say 34 years of marriage in this day and age is a phenomenal feat!! Bud and I will have our 55th in May.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed dropping by and will add you to my reading list.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post! Wow! 55 years is amazing! It's so wonderful to see couples go the distance. I'm going to add you to my list, as well.
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