Countdown to Christmas: Our First Christmas

Alright, we can agree that since it is December it’s officially acceptable to talk about Christmas, right? I know some of y’all have been decked out for weeks, but in our house we wait until after Thanksgiving to get going on Christmassy things.We bought a tree this past weekend, but it still needs decorating. We also spent some time on our annual Christmas card.

Leading up to our very first Christmas I knew that I wanted to start the tradition of sending out Christmas cards. If you don’t already do so, can I just encourage you to? Sure, it takes time and effort and can add up, but it is so much fun to both send and receive Christmas cards in the mail. Anyway, we talked about what to do for our very first card and tried to think of epic ways to say “Our First Married Christmas” to our friends and family. The bar for family Christmas cards had been set pretty high by his sister, but we knew we wanted it to be a tradition all of our own.

My “brilliant” idea was to wear our wedding attire and decorate the tree. We got married in October and for some reason I thought it might be funny. Thankfully, we never got around to trying that out and in hindsight, I think that might have looked a bit random and awkward. Less than a week before Christmas the hubby just said, do you want to go have a snowball fight and call it good? So we did. He insisted that I aim for his face (but I can’t deny that I had fun doing it).

How fitting that our first Christmas card was in the snow. Have I mentioned that the hubby worked at a church? In case you weren’t aware, Christmas Eve is a pretty big deal when you work at a church, especially within the creative arts and music department. That particular Christmas Eve, there was a snowstorm and we had a large driveway to shovel before he left. After a lazy morning in my sweatshirt and sweatpants, I threw on my coat and boots and helped him clear the driveway. Before long, he had to go but I offered to finish up. Out of habit, he shut and locked the door to the house and drove off.

So there I was, alone, on our first Christmas Eve as a married couple, locked out of the house in a snowstorm with no phone, no keys and not looking my best. Did I mention we had just moved to that house a few months before and didn’t yet know the neighbors? Oh, and that it was CHRISTMAS EVE? Not exactly the introduction I had in mind. Thankfully, I spotted someone smoking on their porch down the street so I trudged through the snow and tried to explain how my husband had accidentally locked me out. I called and he came back as quick as he could, which meant I was locked out for about an hour by the time he returned with the key. Nothing bad happened to me and it was all an accident. He hates that story a little bit, but I love it. I don’t think I will ever forget that first Christmas together in Iowa.

There was a certain innocence to that first Christmas in the snow. I will forever remember it fondly. The moral of the story is not to lock your wife out in the snow, but to cherish the little moments this season.