A Very Happy Thanksgiving.

I just finished catching up on Google reader and loved Lisa's post. It really took me back to our first Christmas in Frostburg as a married couple.
I think that relief is about as much joy as a couple can experience. Knowing that you're finally in your place, finally able to save a little money, finally able to celebrate without thinking about next month's bills, finally able to think, "I'm finally home." That's holiday joy.
Being a young, married couple with children on one income is a big accomplishment, but often it's no picnic. The holidays are always especially frustrating. You have so much to celebrate, but it's the month you're expected to spend more, the month your heating bills go sky high and the month where every family member comes down with something. All of a sudden you have to winterize cars, pay unexpected bills and still manage to find the room to buy a Christmas tree and turkey.
I say this because in just a few short years, our lives have changed over and over. We went from being a couple with few bills and no kids to being a couple with a mortgage, two kids and a dog. I count Phoebe because she costs more than Lucy at this point and her impending arrival means lots of gas in the car, lots of copays, a big hospital bill and double the diapers.
Money isn't something people like to talk about but I think if they did, we'd all know how to manage it better. We're a very tight-lipped culture when it comes to dollars and cents, but I think that if we were all a little more willing to share the gory details, maybe this country wouldn't be in the spot we're in now.
I remember our first Christmas in Frostburg. Just one month before Christmas we had nothing. No money, no housing, no gifts. Just a lot of love and our baby's kicking and rolling to put a smile on our face. It was terrifying. But God came through somehow and gave us such a wonderful Christmas. Just a couple of weeks before Christmas Andrew got the job he has now, we found a tiny apartment and we moved from FSU. We got a tiny table-top Christmas tree and boy, did we celebrate! Finding out that Andrew would be paid two weeks in advance, just days before Christmas, was such a happy surprise. We bought gifts for EVERYONE. We just went crazy, overjoyed that everything was looking up. It was such a huge Christmas for us. We were saved over and over that Christmas. I remember sitting in midnight Mass and just crying with joy. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I almost always cry in Mass. I'll never forget all the reasons we had to celebrate that year.
Lisa's post reminded me that even though this year is a different ballgame and things are a little more complex, I still have so many reasons to be thankful and full of joy. I have a little girl who's never seen what holiday magic really is and I plan on showing her every single detail of the season. I have a wonderful husband who's been envisioning THIS year since the day he met me. The first year we have a little girl who's ready to party. The first year we'll have a mantle for the stockings. The first year we'll have a real corner to bring our tree home to. The first year we'll wake up together on Christmas morning in our own terribly lumpy bed. The first year we have "that window" at street level. The window with the twinkling tree, the laughing family, the screaming toddler, the candy dishes, the warm hugs, the long kisses, the Christmas carols, the Nativity scene.
It's going to be a good one and I have so much to be joyful for.