My husband and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this week.
It has become our annual tradition to look back through our wedding album and reminisce about all of the fun we had on our wedding day. We had a beautiful, Christmas “theme” wedding in Elkins. I still get a little teary eyed looking through the pictures.
Halliehurst, where we held our reception, on the campus of Daivs & Elkins College
This year’s trip down memory lane was a new experience.
For the first time, I noticed how much older we look now. My hair was different. It was straighter and more highlighted. The chemo took care of the straight part. I think our monthly day care bill takes care of the highlight issue. There’s not as much money left in the budget to get highlights now, unless newly sprouted grays count as a highlighted color. I’m ashamed to admit that I was a bit thinner and my husband was a bit heavier. We both had fewer wrinkles.
Then I started thinking, what else has changed about our anniversary celebration since we got married? We used to celebrate with an expensive romantic dinner for two. Since our anniversary is so close to Christmas, we have always forgone gifts and opted for a nice evening on the town. This year we ate egg salad on white bread while Henry ran around the dining room and played his guitar and drums. I guess you could perhaps call that a serenade.
We used to decorate our tree the weekend after our anniversary. We’d have a bottle of wine and listen to Christmas music together. All of the ornaments hung perfectly in place and the tree looked like a post card until the day we took it down. Fast forward to today. I am waiting to come home from work and find my tree in the middle of the living room floor because Henry has “re-decorated” by moving all of the ornaments to one side.
Or because he tried to climb the tree. Or both.
On a recent trip to Lowe’s my husband, who once Grinched his way through the holidays, actually offered to hang up outside lights and picked out the bows for our front porch pillars. I asked who this strange man was pushing my shopping cart and what he did with the real George Gannon. When my husband offers to help decorate for Christmas I know a change is in the air.
Change is the best word I can use to describe my 8th anniversary. Our looks have changed. The way we celebrate has changed. Our budget has changed. But so has our spirit. Children make Christmas wonderful. Even the things that are sort of a pain, like forcing him into dress clothes for holiday pictures and moving the good ornaments to the top of the tree (again), can be joyful when I remember that the toddler years are fleeting. Henry is so excited about all of the fun Christmas brings. His wish list contains two things – a trumpet and a candy cane. He finally went out on a limb and sat on Santa’s lap and wore his Star of Bethlehem costume during the Christmas musical. I can check those two things off of my proud mama list.
I listen to my friends with older children talk about teenage issues – like how their kids would rather be with their friends than at home for the evening and whether or not they should bother to even put up a tree. They have more time to themselves. They get more sleep at night. They have time to brush and floss every night before bed. I must admit it does make me a little envious.
God willing, the teenage years will come for my family too. Until then, I want to spend as much time as I can watching my son dance to Christmas music and stare at the tree with innocence and wonder.
How have your holiday traditions changed since you’ve had children?
