Christmas is Coming!.....in January?

So, we received a bit of upsetting news concerning Eli's pay today. We now know that Eli is a base salary employee and not hourly salaried. Not even Eli's boss or his boss knew that. Well, suffice it to say that every penny that I had budgeted for Christmas, we no longer have. You can see why I was understandably quite upset this morning. I called both my Grandmother and Eli's mother in tears hoping for some words of cheer and encouragement. They both said wonderful things and made me feel a little better, but I was still down. I mean, this is the first time in my child's life that we actually have enough money to live on and we were excited that we would be able to not only buy our son Christmas gifts (partially making up for the past 2 years where his parents could only afford a couple small, inexpensive items), but also to buy something for each other! But alas, that is not to be. In addition to the paycheck upset, our reimbursement for the thousands of dollars we spent to move up here has been delayed until January due to an error on his company's part. So I got off the phone mollified, but still depressed. Alas, those of you who know me well know that it takes me some time to get over things like this, but when I do, I always come up with some genius solution to my problem. And that is exactly what I did. If we have Christmas on December 25, it will not be a joyous one. Brayden will still have gifts from family to open and we will enjoy our good fortune and get into the spirit of the holiday, but it won't be the same. So this year, in the Campbell household, Christmas is coming on January 25! Yes, I'm re-writing the Christmas calender. By then our bills will all be settled and our reimbursement will have come through and I will have completed my restoration job and been paid for that. So we will have a much more joyous occasion and have gifts to open...just in January. And just think about how cheaply I will get our decorations! It's a bit unconventional, but since I made the decision I have been much more content than I was telling myself it didn't matter that I couldn't buy Brayden presents. Not to mention we get to enjoy the season one whole more month! (And as an aside to all our family...your presents from us will also come on Campbell's Christmas in January this year!) And as an added bonus, I won't be driving myself crazy trying to finish all my Christmas knitting in just 2 weeks! I really am content and rather happy with this decision.

On a side note, please pray for my great-aunt Mary Jane and her family. Her husband RG had a heart attack in the night a couple days ago and didn't survive. Not only is this very difficult for her considering the season, but RG's income will be missed terribly. She is trying to get her financial situation figured out right now in addition to grieving for her husband. If anyone wants to help with her January mortgage and help to buy her more time to figure everything out, let me know. Things are hard for her right now. She need lots of prayers.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
~Liz