Holy cow, is it December already?

Being in a different climate has totally messed up my "Christmas season" feeling. I keep waiting for it to get to below-freezing weather in the day and feel icy cold wind abrasing my face...But it never happens. And it won't. I can't get my mind around it.

I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done--this year was easy because 1) Steve and I just got married, 2) we don't have a lot of money, and 3) our family doesn't have any good photos of us yet. I think they'll appreciate our gifts. But I think I need to get extra gifts for my mom and maybe my grandparents... But they are SO HARD to buy for!

I got Stephen what he really wanted for Christmas. :D YAY! I also got him something for his birthday that I think he'll like. His birthday is Dec. 22, which takes my family/close friends December birthday count up to 5. Oy. What a season to pick to be born in! LOL.

On a different note, I think God has been moving in our lives again.

I've had to have (and have yet to have) some serious dental procedures done that cost lotsa lotsa dollas. I still don't have a job...Rrr...And Stephen is starting to freak out. We're going to talk with his parents about living cheaply--they're probably one of the best people we know to ask, considering they were dirt poor at the beginning of their marriage.

Anyway, we visited his grandma today, and she gave us a late wedding gift of $250. Wow.

I hope that's God moving...My mom can be really cynical, and her cynicism rubs off on me. If I told her I thought that money was a little gift from God, she'd probably say, "Why didn't he give it to a family barely scraping by?"

It could also just be that Steve and I both come from middle-class families who can afford to give gifts to us. (Lucky us...)

'K, now I'm just getting depressed. Anyway. Onward. Wherever the money came from, we're glad to have it.

SO. Another thing that's been really wonderful has been the way Stephen and I are working out our differences. We had a fight on Saturday. Our first icky fight as a married couple--the kind that leaves a heavy lump in your stomach and unrest in the depth of your heart. It took us a couple days, but we finally worked it out. And today we were able to talk about stuff the fight centered around without getting emotions super stirred up again.

Mine were threatening--I could feel it. But somehow I managed to keep them controlled. Phew! I think it saved our marriage, LOL.

Married life is HARD. :P Especially when I come from a divorced family... It is SO HARD, in this society, to stick to it when things get rough.

I have a feeling that stick-to-itness might come up again. :( Not cool...I thought that ended with the wedding...Oy...

NO MORE BACK DOORS!!!

I have counseling tomorrow. I plan on bringing this up with her.

What was I talking about before I got onto that tangent? Oh yeah, God's been moving. And after our fight and make up, I have a different understanding of our relationship, which I'm always grateful for.

So back to Christmas...I love Christmas. I always have. It means family and love and warmth and lights and glow. Glow. Glow is the word that describes all my past Christmases.

This year it might be a little dark. :( Our plans are kind of messed up with Stephen only getting two days per holiday off (Christmas, day after Christmas; New Year's, day after New Year's). That gives us two 4-day weekends to travel this year (yay! at least Christmas came on a Thursday this year), but those aren't very long trips, especially when the people I usually have Christmas with are a 6-hour drive away.

The other downside is that Christmas Eve is my family's special day, not Christmas. That's when we open presents and have a huge dinner (we usually have one Christmas day too, but it's less of family-oriented). But my mom and sister may be in my hometown, with my grandparents, celebrating Christmas Eve there... Without me.

So I really wish I could figure out what to do about Christmas this year. I try not to think about it too often, because it definitely gets me down, fast. Through lots of prayer and talking to people, I'm sure we'll figure something out.

I've got to go to bed--Stephen is calling me. :)

(I have ALWAYS wanted to say that.)

-Stephanie

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