All we have to do is trust, hope, pray, and believe that He will answer any and all prayers we send His way and know that this is only temporary.

My husband, who'd worked at Ford for the past fifteen years, was let go right before Christmas.  Downsizing.  They decided they didn't need Clark's services, so they let him go.  When he came home that day, he was in tears.  It's a wonder he didn't wreck the car.  Answered prayers there, but it still didn't make the shock of the news any easier.

What made it really hard was when our youngest, Colton, asked us if we were gonna have a Christmas.  I gathered my five year old son into my arms, and I told him, "Baby, yes we will.  We WILL have a Christmas."  It was heartrending.

I decided then that we would make our own Christmas presents.  My kids always liked to make things with their hands (they took after me, I guess; I have always been a very "crafty" person, pun intended! LOL).  That way, we could still have Christmas.  I told them about this; they loved the idea.

Right away, Clark and I could hear happy, childish laughter as the young'uns went to work on creating their presents.  I was very proud of our children for taking the news of their daddy's job loss reasonably well: they were having a much easier time of it than we were.

On Christmas morning, we were greeted by six warm bodies as they squealed and jumped on the bed to wake us up.  They were beyond excited.  I didn't blame them.  They couldn't wait to give us the gifts they'd created for us.

It was a beautiful Christmas.  The snow falling outside.  A warm, toasty fire in th fireplace.  Our skimpy Christmas tree somehow looking fat and healthy with the bright colorful lights aglow.  A small pile of packages underneath, just begging to be opened.

Clark and myself got some pictures hand drawn by Wendy, Oscar, and Terrethia, and an art project from Wren.  Little Colton, meanwhile, had found some acorns, dried leaves, small rocks, and twigs, and he made a picture frame and had stuck a recent picture of all seven of us in the middle.  It was beautiful.  In the picture, we were all smiling and laughing.  Colton had done a very good job.

Soft Christmas music played in the background, and somehow all seemed right with the world.  We may have not gotten our children any fancy toys, but they were happy in knowing that they could make their own gifts to share.  They were happy with the candy and the small bit of cash that we'd stuck inside their Christmas stockings.  Already they were planning a trip to the mall so they could spend their Christmas cash on a book or a small, simple toy, or maybe even some new music.

They were happy that we'd liked their gifts, and they told us so, more than once.  They sat with us and we enjoyed each other's company.  Clark's job loss was temporarily forgotten as we thanked/praised God for our children and our lives; we knew that He would get us through Clark's period of unemployment.  We knew that with prayer and trusting in Him, this would only be a temporary situation; Clark would find a new job soon.

It was probably our best Christmas ever.