Surprises and other ramblings.

I have such a HUGE surprise for hubby when he finally gets to come home (on Christmas EVE!)
I can't say exactly what it is on the slight chance that he might read this. Which I highly doubt, but you never know.

All I can say is that it has required complete rearrangement of our living room, a little paint was involved, a bit of techy stuff, and a whole lot of head scratching. He is going to LOVE it. It would be the last thing he'd expect, too.
Since I bought Caleb a laptop and a case, and got Alex a PS3 system with 6 games, I figured I was on a roll and might as well get Chris something equally as grand, for a change.

I was smart this year and sat aside Christmas money all year long. It was the first year I've ever been able to do that and I hope I can do it every year now. It sure makes things a lot easier, and instead of getting a bunch of small things they sort of like I got them one pricey thing they'll love and get much more use out of.

And just to tease hubby if he sees this post, this is a smeared picture of the gift. Now, if anyone knows what this is do NOT say a word! lol
I will post the un-blurred picture after Christmas. :)

It has been a rough, rough year in that I've had to be without hubby for longer than ever before. But, the company is doing well and growing by leaps and bounds. Keeping hubby gone all the time really sucks. The income is nice but it doesn't fill the void of his absence. I just pray that one day the Lord will send a job where he can be home every night, the way things outta be.

Even before the economy took a turn for the worse this little town was in financial depression. There just aren't any good jobs here that you can support a family on unless you are a doctor, lawyer, etc. The majority of the population here are blue collar workers. It was a big factory town but almost all of those have moved to Mexico.

That's how Chris came to have the job he has now. He was never afforded the opportunity to go to college as his family was very impoverished growing up. He was the oldest of 7 children and raised in a single parent home. He would have jumped at the chance to go to college. Now that he has a family to support he can't spare the money or the time it takes to go to school.
He has a mind as sharp as a tack and I know that he could have been what ever he wanted to be. But, we don't cry over what could have been. We work with what we've got. We live debt free and we are responsible with our money.

So, that's just my way of saying he really deserves this gift. He works so hard all year long and it will help him feel that he's working towards something and accomplishing something. That's one thing we've all learned here in this household. We've been utterly poor, and we've been middle class, we've went to bed hungry and cold. We've been there and done that. Now that we are doing better we don't take anything for granted.
I don't think we'd be so appreciative if we'd been born with silver spoons in our mouths. I am glad that we lived through hard times because they were positive character builders. And, should hard times come back around again, well then, we know exactly how to manage because that territory is familiar to us, and we'll be just fine. :)