I grew up in the Army. We moved about every 3 years. When I was in 1st grade, they sent my Dad to Germany. 10 months later, and we still did not have orders to join him, even though he already had military quarters for us. So, Mom took matters into her own hands, got a job, saved money, and we flew over without orders to join Dad.
The Army didn't like that, and decided to make an example of our family. So they refused to ship all our stored furniture and belongings. They'd been stored for 10 months already, while we'd been living with my Grandparents ... longer than we had expected we'd have to.
Christmas was just two months away and all we had was military issued furniture (ugly gold burlap stuff) and our clothes. Money was also very tight. But it was such a special Christmas.
We made popcorn strings and paper chains to decorate the live tree we went out and cut. We cut out shapes from cereal boxes and covered them with tinfoil to hang on the tree, too. And Dad used his welding skills to make us a star for the top of the tree, and a few other metal ornaments.
I was in second grade, the oldest of three girls. We didn't miss our belongings. We didn't miss our usual decorations. We were just so happy to be together, and we enjoyed creating our home made decorations.
In the world's eyes it would have been a terrible Christmas. I can't even remember what type of gifts we received, although I know they must have been small. I just remember how special that Christmas was, without all the glitter of "stuff" to get in the way of celebrating its true meaning.
Every now and then, when I am preparing for our family's Christmas and I get caught up in worrying about gifts, or in getting the decorations up by a certain date, I think back to that Christmas. It helps me put things back in perspective.
God blessed our family that Christmas, and He is still blessing us today.
Blessings,
April
