Andrea Dozier Dayton Wedding & Lifestyle Photography

This is my fourth Wives of Faith blog post about Christmas. Regular photography posts will begin soon!

In the spirit of Christmas, I will try to narrow this post down to more festive topics. I’m so curious at what other spouses have written {click here to see} but I am going to be a good girl and not peek until I am done with this post!

You Might be a Military Spouse at Christmas: Top Ten List

10. You receive Christmas cards from more than five states.

9. You have trouble buying for the man who has been issued everything he could possibly need {and has the closet to prove it}.

8. Coming “home” for Christmas is your gift.

7. You are a sucker for collecting anything military themed. Santas, nutcrackers, ornaments… you name it. We dust it off and proudly display it.

6. You instantly burst into tears at any commercial that hints at soldiers being away for the holidays, {thanks Best Buy & Walmart}.

5. You’ve ever decorated the tree alone & taken about four thousand pictures of it for your deployed husband.

4. You know the words to the traditional carols, but can just as easily belt out all the lonely tunes.

3. You’ve ever told your children that packages that appear aren’t from Santa, but from the Daddy they haven’t seen in months.

2. Really, you don’t need any presents. One round of great sex will suffice when he gets home.

1. December 25 becomes just another day… it ceases to be the definition of Christmas for you. We have the amazing ability to make Christmas happen whenever we are together, whether it’s before, after, during the traditional day… or just somewhere tucked securely in our hearts that no war or absence can take away.

Bonus: No matter how thankful you are to have them home to participate in every tradition, you feel the nagging & persistent reminder that it’s not going to be the same next year. Then you go back to feeling grateful for right now.

I’ve always loved Christmas time. I love the lights, the trees, the excitement. It is the one bright spot in dull Ohio winters. To fall in love during December with my husband was a wonderful surprise… but I will select an actual object that was given to me for this post.

The best Christmas present I ever received: Diamond Earrings

As fall 2003 churned out colder temperatures, I kissed my single life goodbye. It was the only life I’d ever known for twenty years. I was the most surprised when the most handsome man I’d ever met became my boyfriend. We had our first date on Decemeber 6, after my younger brother’s high school basketball game. I really couldn’t have dreamed a better beginning, {and believe me, I was the queen of daydreaming}.

We both knew that we were going to marry each other pretty early on. I won’t call it love at first sight, because I had known him for a few years before we ever dated. I figured he was too handsome & intelligent to ever look twice at me, so I just took a mental picture of him & asked God for someone exactly like him. As our first Christmas rolled around, I think I picked out some nice boring gifts like sweaters.

He chose earrings.

He pretty much could have gotten me anything & I would have been thankful. But he chose them because a few days before, my ears came up in conversation. I told him I didn’t show anyone my ears, unless I was wearing my hair up for softball. It had been years since I had played softball. I kept my hair securely covering them, because I have the smallest ears of anyone in the world.
At least I thought so…

He decided to give me diamond earrings so that I would get over my insecurity & show off my ears. It took me a minute to hear him out as he explained his ulterior motive. I kind of wanted to hate him, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “I love you.”

He has done a pretty good job at raising his sword to all my outrageous personal myths & insecurities… I only have a few left :]

Check out other Wives of Faith stories here.

*I will have to post a picture of them tomorrow, today went by too fast & I didn’t get a chance to photograph them!

This one kind of has me stumped. I mean, it’s not like I don’t give Christmas presents on a yearly basis… I just can’t really think of anything very extraordinary to share. My husband, hands down, out gives me. It’s really not my fault though. We come up with a “budget” and I break it a little. He breaks it a lot. I consider him a cheater. Or at least, the worst cheater out of the two of us.

I wish I had cute elementary school memory, but I guess I only save the bad ones. There’s no room left in my head for anything sweet or cute from those days {okay, exaggerating a lot}. After much thought, I guess that I will recount the best experience of gift giving that my poor memory will allow.

The Best Christmas Present I Ever Gave: Rocky the Crane {from Thomas & Friends}

It’s no secret that my son has had an obsession with Thomas since his second birthday. It started out innocent enough, a little train came in the mail from Toys R Us. Then he wanted all of them. To be clear, there are about five hundred.

He has accumulated quite a bit over the last two years, and one that we had set our sights on was Rocky the Crane. Mostly because it’s my husband’s nickname {one he’s had since a toddler}. When my husband was deployed, the original Rocky, I was shopping with my sister and happened to come across this evasive Rocky the Crane. For once, I didn’t rush to a computer & e-mail him that I found it. Kevin wasn’t with me either, so I was giddy about my little secret purchase.

We had planned on having a nice web chat on Christmas, but for some reason, his commander planned an exercise at 4 am the day after Christmas, so he had to go to bed early. We settled for a brief “hello, I love you, goodbye.” December 26th, our spirits were a little low but we decided to go ahead & do one gift. I really wanted Kevin to open something in front of him so he felt a little bit of Christmas in Afghanistan. I knew which one to select.

I had tears in my eyes as Kevin pulled open the pine tree wrapping paper and yelled “ROCKY!” I did my best to position them in front of the web cam so that my Rocky wouldn’t miss a moment. They discussed this new toy & I watched as father & son shared a conversation with each other that could only be possible due to the miracle of technology. Daddy felt so close to us.

So it wasn’t the biggest toy, the most expensive, or even the most heartfelt. However, it’s the one I’ll never forget. We waited until February to celebrate the rest of Christmas and it was wonderful. I just don’t remember all the other presents as clearly, because I was a little distracted with staring at my husband.
Thankful that the one gift I wanted was home safe.

Unfortunately, soon after Rock came home, Rocky the Crane suffered a severed wire. Daddy tried to solder them together, but Kevin broke it again after that. He is beyond repair & will someday be replaced. They were working on it in this picture.

Interesting enough, a new crane debuted this fall: Kevin. So now we have Rocky the Crane & Helping Hook Kevin :]

Click here to see the topic in its original form, via Wives of Faith’s website.