Last year we decided that the tree we used for a number of years had seen it's final Christmas. It was shedding needles like crazy and the prelit lights kept taking turns working. It was time to go. We tossed it on the curb after Christmas and knew we had a whole year to save up money to buy one come the following Christmas. Easy, right? Nope.
When Rob broke his thumb in April, he had to stop overtime hours and go to regular. Slowly over the next few months our reserve of funds dwindled and we were back to living paycheck to paycheck with no money for anything extra. We were hoping his overtime would kick back in come fall, but that never happened. (Very long story involving an oopsie on the part of John Deere.) We managed to save money money here and there for presents for the kids, but still didn't have a tree come Thanksgiving. There was a silver lining--a three paycheck December that spread out the bills enough to give us wiggle room, plus overtime starting in the back-half of the month. But--that meant we had to wait until December 16 to find a tree.
Waiting for the tree was hard on all of us. The kids, being kids, just want to see a bright, shiny tree every day to remind them of the holiday. I love Christmas and like being surrounded by decorations. Rob likes his family to be happy. We had a discussion with the kids about how we had to wait for a tree and why, and they were very understanding. They even came up with all kinds of cute ideas for an alternate tree in case we couldn't find one. Because let's face it--waiting until mid-December to find an artificial tree isn't going to give you the best choices. I went ahead and decorated the rest of the house so it felt like Christmas. But there was still a hole in the living room.
Heading into the final two weeks before we could buy the tree was going to be rough. Not only could we not afford extras, a "perfect storm" of bill due dates came up and left us tighter than we had been in a long time. God knew, and He allowed Rob to earn a bonus so that we were able to better breathe. His timing is always perfect!
The day before Rob's magic paycheck, he and I went to the downtown Christmas store, a branch of a local thrift shop, just to see if they had anything left. Matt and I had been there previously and they have over 20 trees of all shapes and sizes, so we knew they existed. But were any left? Yup....just one. And it was perfect. I did NOT want a prelit again, and this was an unlit tree, perfect size and shape. It looked a little scrawny in the store, but Rob soon realized that it was put together incorrectly. When the branches went into the correct slots, it was perfect. And the best part? Everything in the store was 75% off so our tree only cost $13! We were able to bring it home that day and the kids had it up and decorated in record time.
Not a day went by that I did not catch someone in the family gazing at the tree with a smile on their faces. I'm so grateful that we had a chance to experience this precious time together--the waiting for our tree when God taught us powerful lessons about waiting on His timing.
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