New Writing
Dec
22
Published in
Uncategorized by
LimbloggerCheese
MAKE THAT FIRST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER PERFECT!
Published in
Uncategorized by
LimbloggerCheese
12/4/09
You say you're married? And you want to get Christmas right? I mean your first ever new family Christmas? I can help you do that. I know how. I just happened to get my first
one right. And it's a darn good thing too! It was the autumn of 1982. My marriage was still shiny and new. We were coming up on our very first Christmas together!
Now, let me tell you something guys, and you damn sure better listen: this first Christmas together is the big one! You simply must get this one right. Because if you botch this first Christmas together oh, my goodness! Oh, how I do not want to be in your shoes! If you botch this first Christmas, then you may have been fortunate enough to have married a good, loving, and forgiving wife.
But what about her parents? What about all the rest of your in-laws? They might even be Christians too, but I promise you they will simply never let you live this one down. And besides, do you really think you can bear to watch your poor, young wife sobbing into a pillow over what might have been, and what she missed? Over a ruined Christmas? One that she thinks (rightly or wrongly) that you ruined? And all because you did not give your all, and you just screwed the whole thing up?
Do you really want that on your conscience? I am telling you here and now, you do not!
So you simply have to get this right. And I am writing you this article early in December (while it is still not too late) so that you - yes you, whoever you are! - can fix this now. But maybe you're reading this, and you think it is too late. You have already screwed up the first Christmas. You had to have your way. You didn't listen to her. You didn't decorate things the way she wanted to. Or maybe you didn't decorate anything at all. So she just collapsed on the couch in a heap of tears. And you didn't know what to do. So you just shrugged your shoulders, went on with your life, and then hoped and prayed she would somehow just get
over it.
You're taking a real chance there, Bub: maybe she will, and maybe she won't. I'm telling you, you don't dare want to take that chance!
So how do you do it? How do you keep from botching your first married Christmas? You'll be glad to know that it really is fairly easy. But you have to do two things: first, you listen very carefully to your wife as she talks about all of her Christmases growing up, and all the wonderful, favorite things that she and her family did. You must look like you are listening, and you must actually listen! So put away your "guard dogged" telephone, your mp3 player, turn off your radio, and your stupid ol' television set. Prop your chin on your hand and gaze into her eyes. And listen while she talks about those early Christmases of her girlhood, what she like best, and what was special to her. Even better: take notes while she is watching, and she will really know you are listening. It will impress her. (And if you're trying to get her to marry you, this works for that too!)
And then - when she isn't looking - try to pick out some of the easy things she mentioned. And then put a little effort into reproducing some of what she grew up with. (Forget what you grew up with!) Do this, and she will love you forever! (Of course, she is supposed to do that anyway. Remember those wedding vows? Hey, they meant something!) But anyway, this will really grease the wheels of your marriage, and send you rolling along smoothly into the new year.
The second thing you must do to give your wife a great Christmas is let God help you plan and do the whole thing. That's right - I said God! Because Christmas is His Biggee, and He is so intent on helping people celebrate His son's birthday right, that He goes out of His way to help them do it right. What you must do is simply get out of the way, swallow your pri
de, and let Him help you. Even if it seems to go against the grain. Even if it sort of hurts your manly pride. Just let God help you no matter what, and do what He says, and you will be home free. That's what I did.
Want to know how God helped me give her a great Christmas? I simply stood aside and watched with interest as she opened a Christmas gift from a close personal friend back during our first October together. Now, I have to tell you I did not like this friend of Bev's at all. I had gotten off on the wrong foot with her from the first, and there was little or no chance I would ever get back on the right foot. So this is the part about swallowing your pride.
What was this gift? It was what you call a "pre-Christmas, Get-ready-for-Christmas gift." It was a Christmas book by Guide Posts ministries. This paperback booklet had three parts to it: the first was a collection of stories about Christmas traditions from various contributors; the second was a list of Christmas stories, all about the birth of Jesus, but with some special twist or emphasis; the third was called "gifts from the hearth" and contained a collection of wonderful recipes for all kinds of Christmas goodies. (Super yum!) Bev opened this gift, thumbed through it, and said, "what a wonderful gift this is! I want to try some of these traditions and cook some of this food for you and the church members.""That's great honey! That can be our Christmas tradition," I answered, smiling and hugging her.
"And," she said, "you can read to us the Christmas stories here in this book."
"That's a good idea!," I said. "I'll do that. Sta
rting the first Sunday of Advent," I said.
That did it. That gave her the best first Christmas a bride could ever want. Now, do you see how easy that is? You listen to your wife. And you let God help you. And then it just all works out. That is what you do.
And when you do, and it all works out, you are going to be grateful. You're going to be grateful to me. You're going to want to thank me for this. So I am going to make that real easy for you. I like those little boxes of chocolate cherries. Also those whole wheat saltine crackers. So just buy them, wrap them up, and mail them to me anonymously. Or shucks, you can just leave them on my front door step with a nice card! My Christmas is already going to be really good. But you can make it a little better (har!)
LBC
You say you're married? And you want to get Christmas right? I mean your first ever new family Christmas? I can help you do that. I know how. I just happened to get my first
one right. And it's a darn good thing too! It was the autumn of 1982. My marriage was still shiny and new. We were coming up on our very first Christmas together!Now, let me tell you something guys, and you damn sure better listen: this first Christmas together is the big one! You simply must get this one right. Because if you botch this first Christmas together oh, my goodness! Oh, how I do not want to be in your shoes! If you botch this first Christmas, then you may have been fortunate enough to have married a good, loving, and forgiving wife.
But what about her parents? What about all the rest of your in-laws? They might even be Christians too, but I promise you they will simply never let you live this one down. And besides, do you really think you can bear to watch your poor, young wife sobbing into a pillow over what might have been, and what she missed? Over a ruined Christmas? One that she thinks (rightly or wrongly) that you ruined? And all because you did not give your all, and you just screwed the whole thing up?
Do you really want that on your conscience? I am telling you here and now, you do not!
So you simply have to get this right. And I am writing you this article early in December (while it is still not too late) so that you - yes you, whoever you are! - can fix this now. But maybe you're reading this, and you think it is too late. You have already screwed up the first Christmas. You had to have your way. You didn't listen to her. You didn't decorate things the way she wanted to. Or maybe you didn't decorate anything at all. So she just collapsed on the couch in a heap of tears. And you didn't know what to do. So you just shrugged your shoulders, went on with your life, and then hoped and prayed she would somehow just get
over it.You're taking a real chance there, Bub: maybe she will, and maybe she won't. I'm telling you, you don't dare want to take that chance!
So how do you do it? How do you keep from botching your first married Christmas? You'll be glad to know that it really is fairly easy. But you have to do two things: first, you listen very carefully to your wife as she talks about all of her Christmases growing up, and all the wonderful, favorite things that she and her family did. You must look like you are listening, and you must actually listen! So put away your "guard dogged" telephone, your mp3 player, turn off your radio, and your stupid ol' television set. Prop your chin on your hand and gaze into her eyes. And listen while she talks about those early Christmases of her girlhood, what she like best, and what was special to her. Even better: take notes while she is watching, and she will really know you are listening. It will impress her. (And if you're trying to get her to marry you, this works for that too!)
And then - when she isn't looking - try to pick out some of the easy things she mentioned. And then put a little effort into reproducing some of what she grew up with. (Forget what you grew up with!) Do this, and she will love you forever! (Of course, she is supposed to do that anyway. Remember those wedding vows? Hey, they meant something!) But anyway, this will really grease the wheels of your marriage, and send you rolling along smoothly into the new year.
The second thing you must do to give your wife a great Christmas is let God help you plan and do the whole thing. That's right - I said God! Because Christmas is His Biggee, and He is so intent on helping people celebrate His son's birthday right, that He goes out of His way to help them do it right. What you must do is simply get out of the way, swallow your pri
de, and let Him help you. Even if it seems to go against the grain. Even if it sort of hurts your manly pride. Just let God help you no matter what, and do what He says, and you will be home free. That's what I did.Want to know how God helped me give her a great Christmas? I simply stood aside and watched with interest as she opened a Christmas gift from a close personal friend back during our first October together. Now, I have to tell you I did not like this friend of Bev's at all. I had gotten off on the wrong foot with her from the first, and there was little or no chance I would ever get back on the right foot. So this is the part about swallowing your pride.
What was this gift? It was what you call a "pre-Christmas, Get-ready-for-Christmas gift." It was a Christmas book by Guide Posts ministries. This paperback booklet had three parts to it: the first was a collection of stories about Christmas traditions from various contributors; the second was a list of Christmas stories, all about the birth of Jesus, but with some special twist or emphasis; the third was called "gifts from the hearth" and contained a collection of wonderful recipes for all kinds of Christmas goodies. (Super yum!) Bev opened this gift, thumbed through it, and said, "what a wonderful gift this is! I want to try some of these traditions and cook some of this food for you and the church members.""That's great honey! That can be our Christmas tradition," I answered, smiling and hugging her.
"And," she said, "you can read to us the Christmas stories here in this book."
"That's a good idea!," I said. "I'll do that. Sta
rting the first Sunday of Advent," I said.That did it. That gave her the best first Christmas a bride could ever want. Now, do you see how easy that is? You listen to your wife. And you let God help you. And then it just all works out. That is what you do.
And when you do, and it all works out, you are going to be grateful. You're going to be grateful to me. You're going to want to thank me for this. So I am going to make that real easy for you. I like those little boxes of chocolate cherries. Also those whole wheat saltine crackers. So just buy them, wrap them up, and mail them to me anonymously. Or shucks, you can just leave them on my front door step with a nice card! My Christmas is already going to be really good. But you can make it a little better (har!)
LBC