Tomorrow is the 12th – the day we have our monthly giveaway. But we’ve decided to change how we run the contest in 2011. We want to give you an opportunity to celebrate the special moments so often missed. Last week we posted a wonderful article by Lori Lowe, which spoke of finding little reasons in your day, week, month to celebrate. If you missed it, please go back and read it.
The idea behind this challenge for 2011 is to encourage you, our readers, to join in sharing the little ways you’ve found to celebrate in your marriage. It may be a raise, a new job, or simply the first date you’ve had after an illness. It could be finding an extra $5 in your pocket or staying in budget for your groceries last month. You get the idea. Find ways to celebrate your everyday life, by lighting the candle you’ve never lit, or opening the special bottle of wine or specialty coffee you’ve been saving for…who knows what – then, share it with us on the 12th of each month. We’ll be sure to remind you…but it is up to you whether or not you participate.
We love sharing our life and love with you. But we never intended this blog to be solely about us! We are only one couple in a sea of marriages worth celebrating. This is your chance to tell us in one to three sentences a moment you purposed to celebrate in the past month. Once you do, you will be entered into our drawing for a gift card to the restaurant of your choice.
This month we’re making it easy: Tell us a favorite moment you enjoyed together at Christmas; both husbands and wives are encouraged to share.
For me, my favorite moment was sitting at the table at our church’s Christmas celebration taking it all in – the love we share not only with each other, but with the three couples who were seated with us, as well as the entire room full of many lifelong friends. It was certainly a moment worth celebrating!
Remember, only one entry per person, and you must be married or engaged to participate. We’ll announce the winner in tomorrow’s post. Comments must be submitted by midnight TONIGHT! We are looking forward to hearing from you! If you have a blog, you’re invited to copy our challenge button and link up each month using Misty Linky at the bottom of the post. Thanks!
Now, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I (Debi) love music in all forms – even the corny musical numbers make me smile!! I hope you’ll enjoy this song by Judy Garland sung during the final moments of her last episode of The Judy Garland Show, which only aired one season. It is how we came up with the new name of our Challenge and is quite fitting don’t you think?
Here’s To Us!
The Romantic Vineyard 
My husband and I visited his hometown for Christmas. One night after the kids went to bed, we headed out on a snowy night to stroll through an amazing grocery store there. I have a thing for grocery stores, but never get the chance to take my time due to the kiddos! It might sound simple, but we had lots of fun tasting speciality foods and enjoying each others’ company.
Thanks for this blog, I have been inspired to intentionally date my husband in 2011!
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We love grocery stores too! You can learn a lot about the people in a region by the food sold in the local grocery store. Thanks for sharing Rebecca, and congrats on being our first entrant! 🙂
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My wife and I took the kids to a large city for a day of shopping. It was a big difference for them (we live in a town of 500). My favorite time was when we rode the train back to the car snuggled up wife my wife just watching the lights of the city out the window. It was a great day and a perfect way to start the holiday season.
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My Dear Hubby brought to my attention that we should bless a few special people who work really hard to make us feel special whenever we frequent their establishment. I was so humbled to see how God could use our gift to bring one special person to tears in a public setting as she stated that her family would be able to celebrate Christmas this year! I am so thankful my DH listened to the urging of the Holy Spirit and so grateful for the reminder of what Christmas is truly all about. “Here’s To Him” ~ our Savior & Lord ~ our perfect gift!
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For many years, my wife and I have done the “12 Days of Christmas” gift giving. After the kids went to bed, Denise and I would share a gift with each other for 12 nights leading up to Christmas Eve. When we started, the gift had to be under $5. “Inflation” and wanting to give more took over and the gifts many times were more than 5 bucks. Our girls always got up the next morning anxious to see what we had given each other.
This year, Denise and I decided to do it different. We had “12 Days of Christmas” dates. We had to come up with an original date for 12 different days. The best one was Denise’s idea–a Barnes & Noble book date. Upon arrival, we chose a cozy area near the coffee shop. Our first assignment was to look through recipe books in the cooking section, bring the book back to our cozy area, choose a favorite recipe and tell why it was a favorite. Then we went to the comic/humor section and each chose a joke book, brought it back to our cozy area and share some jokes with each other. They were good clean jokes that brought a ton of laughter. Then we went to the travel section and selected a book about a place where we would love to go. Our choices had to be secret so we could play a guessing game first. Then we looked through each others book and dreamed. We ended it with going to the poetic book section and choosing a book with a love poem. We came back and read the poem to each other and had a sweet time looking into each other’s eyes and removing a tear or two.
God is so good to us! Better than we deserve. We’ve been dating for 32 years and soon to be married 30 years!
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My favorite moment was sad and happy at the same time. This was the first year we have been home with our kids on Christmas morning. It was fun to start our own traditions and to see the excitement in our kids faces. It was also (most likely) the last year we will spend in our house because we currently have it listed for sale. What good memories were made!
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Well I was sick THIS Christmas, but for our first Christmas married together (which is still my fav Christmas moment), I had hung up homemade (out of construction paper) mistletoe all over the house – in the shower, over the bed, over the spot where you stand to get a cup of water out of the fridge, over the couch … EVERY WHERE! Then I made sure to always kiss him when he was standing under one. We left up the mistletoe for weeks! 😀
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My favorite christmas moment is nothing fancy but something I love. It was getting up Christmas morning and making santas white Christmas, eating banana bread and video taping Chris handing the girls their presents. Starting fun traditions!! But my FAVORITE part was when my hubby sat next to me on the couch and we cuddled and watched our girls play with their toys 🙂 ::sigh:: it was wonderful
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My favourite Christmas moment with my fiance and I was when I fell asleep on his shoulder in the car on the way home from the aquarium. See, my birthday is in December, and I love the aquarium, so that’s where I went with my parents and my fiance on my birthday. It had been a rather stressful Christmas with family issues and things especially with the future-in-laws, so we were exhausted. Having that unguarded moment as we drove home in the warm car and the cold outside was so restful and good. :o)
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My favorite Christmas moment was Christmas Eve when my husband and I exchanged our personal gifts. I gave my husband a framed copy of one of my favorite quotes – Mr. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennett. My husband gave me a sewing machine, which was very exciting (I know, not everyone would feel that way!). It was nice to have that time with just the two of us.
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Christmas 1996 I was pregnant with my daughter. My (first) husband and I had moved from NY to Atlanta to be part of a church plant, and were without “family”. We spent Christmas Eve with a bunch of folks from church, all who had transplanted as well. All day we kept hearing the plans of the day, ending with “and then we’ll read the Christmas story”.
As the end of the day came, it was time for the Christmas story. As VERY young believers, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the story the host had been referring to was from the Gospel of Luke and not the one with stockings hung by the chimney with care. It was the most meaningful Christmas of our lives, and we both decided THIS was going to be OUR family tradition.
By the next Christmas I was a widow. Between the numbness of it all and our unbelieving families wanting the baby’s 1st Christmas with them, the tradition didn’t start. Year after year, I put parents and siblings first, and did not have a Christmas at home with my daughter, and did not begin the tradition of reading the Christmas story to her. All the while feeling guilty that I had not honored her dad’s wishes, but wanting to honor my parents…
This year, 14 Christmases after the one when I was pregnant with my daughter, my (new) husband declared we were having Christmas at home and we were reading the Christmas story to BOTH of our children. It was a blessing on EVERY level!
As I sat there listening to my husband read Scripture to/over our family, I took a moment to close my eyes and enjoy being wrapped in the warm embrace of my Savior, whose timing is perfect! THAT was my favorite moment!
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Colleen – Thank you for sharing this beautiful moment with us. I’m in tears at the kindness of God. He has lead you through so much, and to hear of your love for Him inspires me! I am going to share this with our Facebook Fans. I pray it will make their day, like it did mine! Happy New Year!!!
Debi
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One of the sweetest Christmases my husband Don and I have enjoyed together followed one of the bleakest times of our lives, in which my sweet husband demonstrated his tender love for me and for my bruised heart.
In 1999 our youngest son Jesse passed away when he was just short of 4 years old and was laid to rest in a cemetery in Winter Park under the shade of an old water oak. It’s really a beautiful spot, and over the years I have often gone there to sit, cry, pray, and remember. A few weeks after his funeral I went to mourn by myself for a while. The breeze was gently blowing and I could hear bells… wind chimes. Someone had hung a fine set of chimes in the tree over his grave. It was beautiful… and somehow comforting to me. Each time I would go back to visit, I would hope that there might be a breeze so that I could hear them.
The ensuing years were very hard and there was much sadness and sorrow in our home. In December of 2008, Don arranged for our family members to all give me windchimes for Christmas… big ones, small ones, deep-toned, and light; all ringing their melodies of comfort to my heart. I will always treasure his tenderness for me and my heart in that gesture of comfort, tailored especially for me. To this day, I am reminded of his love for me each time I step outside and hear their sweet tones.
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Our oldest daughter, Victoria, was scheduled to go to Amman, Jordan on Dec 31. So on Christmas Eve, we looked in on her in her room asleep, dreaming of Christmas Day. We have looked at our children sleeping every Christmas Eve through the years. There is just something about the excitement you know they went to sleep feeling. As we looked at Victoria, we were well aware that this could be the last time we see her sleeping in her bed on Christmas Eve and together we wept as we looked. I thanked Joe for giving her to me (well I know God gave her to me, but you know what I mean), and he thanked me back and I knew there was nothing I could get that was any better than that moment. We both totally understood what the other was feeling and the emotions were deep. It just made us fall in love farther with each other. I will never forget that memory.
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My husband and I decided to have a night of total abandonment, leaving everything else alone except each other. No cell phones, no t.v., no work talk…just us. We sat in the silence and just felt each others’ hearts, listened and talked, cooked and ate dinner together, discussed memories of our High School love and married joys and just basked in the pure simplicity of being together. Amazing how love and peace really do go together…
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We love evenings like these. We’re glad you had this night to share together and to reconnect. The best part is…you can do it again!
Thanks for sharing!
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My husband was able to come home from work a few hours early last night (he owns & operates his own business which at this time of year means long hours) & we were able to enjoy each others company while I made dinner & the kids ran around the house with the puppy. As I was putting the 2 littlest kids to bed, he was working on his computer & listening to music. He played a song in iTunes that he played for me over 18 years ago now (Chris Ledoux’s Look At You Girl) & turned it up so I could hear it, but only played a portion for me. Then laughingly said, that’s all ya get. It made my heart smile & made it a little easier to get 2 resistant munchkins to bed too 🙂 with 4 kids, a puppy, and a baby on the way it is the little moments that make the load lighter and help me to remember not only how much husband of almost 16 years loves me but also how much God loves me & our family!
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When we had only been married a few years, Joe and I had been asked to help a family member with a financial burden. With only one of us working, we made a choice to forgo buying anything for Christmas…It was very hard….We had a very tight budget that year and it seemed the right thing to do 🙂 I don’t think we realized just how hard it would be 🙂 one day I found an extra $5.00 in my purse…I sooo wanted a tree :)) I got up the nerve to go to this Christmas tree place a few days before Christmas and ask if he had any trees that might cost $5.00….He looked around and pointed to this broken tree….”how about that one?” I squealed with glee:::: “i’ll take it!!” he loaded it in my car and handed me back my $5.00…”oh just have it…Merry Christmas”….When Joe came home, he was so surprised and then we both were near tears as we rejoiced in how God’s kindness was so brought forth in something which seemed so small….but was so very big to us! Who would have thought that 22 years ago that small gesture would still be a beautiful reminder to us that God even cares about the small things…and for the record…that had to be the most beautiful tree ever!
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About a week before I proposed marriage, Dianne’s family was together celebrating Christmas. I am from a small family and hers is large. Seeing how everyone was together as a family and a support team is incredible. It was awesome knowing that I was about to be a family member too and 3 1/2 years later it is only better. Dianne’s uncle is a pastor and married us just 6 weeks later and we have never looked back. Today we celebrated knowing each other the same number of months as our age…I’m not telling. God is so good.
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We found ourselves relaxing on the back deck with none of our three children home. We poured each other a glass of wine and ended up going down memory lane, recounting our 12 years together. Ended up talking for over two hours! Such an ordinary moment made extraordinary by just talking about our experiences together and how so many of them have made us closer through the years. (even if they were hard to go through!) We’re celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary on August 4th. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!!
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For my husband and I it was pretty simple. We have never enjoyed a Christmas shopping trip together for the kids since we have been married 6 years. So last year we were finally able to stop everything with work and start our first night together alone no kids and just a christmas shopping trip. Although the shopping never got done because we were too busy having fun together and just enjoying each other it didn’t matter to me the organized one! I loved every minute of Our time together since its so few and far between. As said its simple but it was very special for me and my hubby!
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Our first Christmas together, while we were dating, I was home in PA for Christmas and he was at his parents’, in SC. He sent me a present, which I opened with my family, a pair of earrings and a picture of us in a nice frame. He called me up and asked me if I found the third present. He had written me a poem and hidden it behind the picture in the frame. It was so sweet, and such a special surprise. 🙂
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Christmas without children was certainly wonderful at first. We got to pay very close attention to each other during those days. We loved being together and knew someday we would choose to have kids and they would surround us each Christmas. But being childless at Christmas when you don’t want to be brings a whole different meaning to the holiday. Yes, we relish at our Lord’s birth and are grateful that He came to save us and we always acknowledged that. But there was still a little sting each Christmas without a baby. So, in 1992, after 6 miscarriages, I found myself hospitalized at 30 weeks. It was the beginning of December. I was going to be there for the duration of the pregnancy. I had just put up the tree at home! But what could have been just a scary, sad Christmas in the hospital, became one of the most wonderful times of our lives. People came and decorated my hospital room and the nurses even set up a special room for me to be moved into so my family could come celebrate Christmas Day with us there. Joe and I had our own special Christmas moment on Christmas Eve, sharing our last few days together, laying in a tiny hospital bed together, embracing and giving gifts and happy beyond our wildest dreams because we knew the best gift would be in our arms anytime, the gift of a baby girl. And yes she did come, on New Year’s Eve! I will always smile and look in fondness at our last Christmas without children now.
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Shawnie, Whenever I’m reminded of your story, I have a fresh awareness of the faithfulness of God even in difficulty. You are a living testimony to what God can do if we simply are willing to wait and trust Him. Thank you for taking the time to share this! I love you dearly,
Debi
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