Gift of Love

This year has been a year of blessings, a year of trial, and a year of learning. We have laughed and cried, battled and made peace, and spent and saved. This Christmas we made the decision not to purchase anything on credit cards. Those darn things anyway are a bunch of trouble and no good! We had it in our plans what we were going to do for our kids' presents........we do have 3 kids. So, on November 30th my husband got paid and paid all the bills. It felt WONDERFUL to pay everything on time for the month of December. It felt so wonderful that my husband felt like he could pay one of the bills ahead........well, come to find out later that it wasn't such a great idea. The VERY NEXT DAY some lady hit us on the way to watch my oldest daughter cheer for her elementary school basketball team! This lady evidently had no auto insurance and begged us to not report it. So my compassionate husband let it go and we had to purchase a new tire. So between paying the bill ahead and purchasing a rather large tire for a Hemi Truck, there was $600 not in our wallets right before Christmas. Ok, now fast forward to a few days ago..........we barely scrimped by to get the kiddos' presents and their shopping is done. But now my husband and I feel really bad that we cannot do anything for each other or the neighbors as we had originally planned. I did make the aftershave, which he will get some, along with all the other men in the family. But I had plans to get him a Shoulder Holster for his pistol and some stocking stuffers. Well.....looks like that will have to wait for his birthday. Love.......All we need is love.....right? When our kids open their presents on Christmas morning, we will know that we provided for them and that we have each other. It will feel great watching their faces as they open each gift. After all, if my husband and I love each other through the hard times, then we are giving our children the best gift of all.....the "Gift of Love".