Christmas of 1998 was the first Christmas that Josh and I spent together as a married couple. We were married in April, and we lived in a small home that we had purchased in Tremonton. We didn't have a lot of money as newlyweds, so on our small budget, we needed to buy an affordable Christmas tree. Josh always grew up with a real tree, so he wanted us to get one for our first Christmas. We went down to King's because they were selling some live ones in their parking lot. But, after looking at the trees, we didn't think we could afford the $40-$60 that they cost. When he was growing up, his family always took a trip to the mountains to cut down a tree, so we had no idea that trees sold at lots cost so much money. So, we went inside King's and looked at other tree options. He didn't want to get an artificial one, because we didn't want to store it all year and he didn't think we would use it in future years. We settled on the only tree we felt like we could afford: a little 3-foot artificial tree. I convinced Josh that it would be fine to use as our Christmas tree the first year, and it would store easily and we could use it as a decoration in future years. Because it was small, it was easy and cheap to decorate, too! We used ornaments that Josh and I were given when we were children from our parents and grandparents, and I used one strand of lights to illuminate it. I set it on a box in the corner of the living room, and I fell in love with it! We still have that tree--the boys each have a 3-foot artificial tree to decorate with their own ornaments and display in their own rooms.
A few weeks before Christmas, I went with my friend Kimberly to go see "The Forgotten Carols" by Michael McLean in Logan. It was my first experience seeing the production, and it changed me. I loved the music and the beautiful message that the story told. I could just feel the Christmas spirit that night--it felt like magic was in the air. My favorite part of the night was at the very end, when Michael sang "Hold on, the light will come" and then he began singing "we will be together forever someday" and he had the audience join with him in singing that a couple of times. It wan amazing experience and I remember thinking that it felt like heaven to me. It's hard to explain in words exactly what I felt--the spirit was so strong in that room. When we were leaving that night, I purchased the CD of the Forgotten Carols music, and I listen to it every Christmas season now--it always puts me in a good mood!
The anticipation of Christmas that year was exciting for me. I'm terrible at surprises--I'm like that girl in the skits on Saturday Night Live who can't keep a secret and always ruins the surprise! Josh had gotten me something big a week or two before Christmas, and I knew that because he put whatever it was in the shed--and then he bought a lock and put it on the shed's door so that I wouldn't find out what was inside! Unlike me, Josh really likes surprises. The anticipation of what was inside that shed just killed me! I quizzed him about the surprise every day, trying to see if his facial expressions would give away whatever it was that he was hiding from me! And he was like an iron soldier--never revealing anything. He is SO good at keeping secrets!
Christmas 1998 was wonderful--Josh had given me awesome gifts, we were living in our new home together, and we got to spend time with both families over Christmas and New Years. I felt so blessed!
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