SleepyHead
Dec 23, 2002, 09:44 AM
It's been a very rough year - a stolen car, slow business, shorter paychecks, Daddy's heart attack and subsequent 2 months off work, Momma's month off work to tend to him, her losing her job (effective last week) because the company pulled up roots and moved to Arkansas), and multiplying bills, all under that blanket of destruction which began on September 11, 2001. Late notices, bounced rent checks, "please pays" by creditors who'd been back burnered to keep groceries on the table - no, it hasn't been a good year.
But it has - my kids have been mostly well this year, no major illnesses, no trips in the middle of the night to emergency rooms. My Daddy died twice before going into surgery - but he's alive now, and will soon be upgraded from 24 hour-workweeks to 32-hour workweeks, with the occasional 40-hour week thrown in when he can handle it. Momma's back to looking for a job - but she's "off" for Christmas, and that tickles her pink. I'll have a short check in January, but besides having made that shortage up in tips this past Saturday, I, too, am "off" for Christmas, and my kids are tickled pink. The hubby got no raises this year (he usually gets one each year), and no bonuses at his job, and he will only have Christmas day off - but the bosses sent him home with a gargantuan ham for Christmas. My "new" car was stolen and gutted, and the one designated for the junkyard uses a quart and a half of oil on each oneway trip to the hubbit's job, but the Lord has kindly kept it running for us. I still owe over $6000 to various lenders, but they are all willing to take $50 a month til they're paid off - and even though one insisted that I give them my "Santa Claus" money, we still have Christmas presents. It is only one or two each, and they won't last but a few weeks, due to substandard quality, but they are there, and will brighten a face or two on Christmas morning. Not only that, but although the bills are huge, no one has had to be "skipped" this year on the bills because we spent too much of the bill money on Christmas, and we won't have a huge new debt to begin paying off in January. And out of our smallish change, we were able to give at least 5 other needy children a small gift through Toys for Tots.
Tomorrow night, we will all get dressed and go to Midnight Mass, and thank God for His gift to us - His son, whose birth we honour each year at Christmas, who came into this world not to give us more money, or better jobs, or even a holiday, but Peace, and Joy, and Love - and Life Everlasting.
Merry Christmas, My Beatlelinks Friends!
*huggles*
SleepyHead
But it has - my kids have been mostly well this year, no major illnesses, no trips in the middle of the night to emergency rooms. My Daddy died twice before going into surgery - but he's alive now, and will soon be upgraded from 24 hour-workweeks to 32-hour workweeks, with the occasional 40-hour week thrown in when he can handle it. Momma's back to looking for a job - but she's "off" for Christmas, and that tickles her pink. I'll have a short check in January, but besides having made that shortage up in tips this past Saturday, I, too, am "off" for Christmas, and my kids are tickled pink. The hubby got no raises this year (he usually gets one each year), and no bonuses at his job, and he will only have Christmas day off - but the bosses sent him home with a gargantuan ham for Christmas. My "new" car was stolen and gutted, and the one designated for the junkyard uses a quart and a half of oil on each oneway trip to the hubbit's job, but the Lord has kindly kept it running for us. I still owe over $6000 to various lenders, but they are all willing to take $50 a month til they're paid off - and even though one insisted that I give them my "Santa Claus" money, we still have Christmas presents. It is only one or two each, and they won't last but a few weeks, due to substandard quality, but they are there, and will brighten a face or two on Christmas morning. Not only that, but although the bills are huge, no one has had to be "skipped" this year on the bills because we spent too much of the bill money on Christmas, and we won't have a huge new debt to begin paying off in January. And out of our smallish change, we were able to give at least 5 other needy children a small gift through Toys for Tots.
Tomorrow night, we will all get dressed and go to Midnight Mass, and thank God for His gift to us - His son, whose birth we honour each year at Christmas, who came into this world not to give us more money, or better jobs, or even a holiday, but Peace, and Joy, and Love - and Life Everlasting.
Merry Christmas, My Beatlelinks Friends!
*huggles*
SleepyHead