Christmas '08

Why is it that the poorer we are, the better our Christmas's get? We've had tough Christmas' before, but this was the first time that Brian had been unemployed. To be able to get the kids something this year, I had been going through our stuff, and selling what we didn't need or use anymore. Then I used that money and found a few things on craigslist. Not much, but at least they would be getting something. Well, Christmas was even better than I had hoped for, even though it was stressful. Brian crashed our car the week before Christmas and did some pretty major damage. (no, I wasn't smart enough to get pictures) Anyway, we had been planning on going to Colorado for Christmas with some gas money my mom had given us. With our car out of commission, and rentals so expensive, it looked like we wouldn't be going to Colorado. Well, I should have had more faith. Our car insurance paid for most of the rental, and my grandma paid for the rest. A friend of my mom's works for Volunteers of America, and they sent a large box full of gifts for my kids, and donations from members of our ward paid for a gift card to Wal-mart. So, our kids made out like bandits, and had no idea that this was our toughest Christmas yet.







After we got back, our car was finished being fixed the next day. The mechanic had worked it so that we didn't have to pay our deductible, and still have some money left over. That money helped to pay for a new rack and pinion that had been cracked for months. Talk about the blessing of paying out tithing! So, Heavenly Father knew what he was doing after all! I hope you all had as good a Christmas as we did, with a little less stress, I hope:)