10th Day of Christmas with Jennifer Smith of Unveiled Wife
From unrealistic expectations to traditions to your screaming schedule as well as those annual holiday encounters with the in-laws and outlaws, this free 5 Day challenge will allow your holidays to go from chaos to calm. Click HERE for the free 5 Day Challenge and they will automatically come to your inbox. Merry Christmas!
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember you may comment to win on all of the 12 Days of Christmas posts until Sunday night, December 15th at midnight EST so be sure to read through those you missed and catch up!
Welcome to the 10th Day of Christmas with Jennifer Smith from Unveiled Wife. Jennifer is a Christian, a wife and a mother of one. These are her three most important priorities in life, in that order.
Unveiled Wife launched in March of 2011. Jennifer first began this blog to share with other wives the struggles and the healing she encountered in her first few years of marriage. By God’s grace it has grown into much more than Jennifer could ever have imagined, reaching women from all around the world joined together in community.
And now, let’s hear from Jennifer:
The sounds of holiday cheer spread joy throughout the house. The Christmas tree was decorated colorfully from trunk to tip with interesting ornaments ranging over decades. I had traveled with husband and son to see friends of ours who had recently welcomed their first sweet child into the world. It also happened to be their families annual Christmas party celebration and they kindly invited us to join.
Aunts and uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters began filling every room in the house. The chatter of hello’s and reminiscing with one another was a joy to hear. I didn’t know any of the family who came that day so I sat comfortably playing with my son in the living room. The front door opened and another guest had arrived, it was my friend’s grandparents who have been married 60 years.
With smiles beaming on their faces they also made their way to the living room. Although this couple was older, it seemed like their love for each other was as fresh as when it first bloomed. The grandpa was wearing a beige suit with a red sweater vest and a nice comb-over. The grandma sat nestled in a wheelchair with dark hair, fair skin and a smile that never seemed to leave her beautiful face.
Distracted by my son’s play I only heard bits and pieces of the party conversations. However, there was something specific I kept hearing repeated by Grandpa,
“She made it for me for our first Christmas together!”
After hearing this over and over again I eavesdropped over his next conversation. A cousin came in to say hello and acknowledged the red bow tie that adorned Grandpa’s neck. Then I heard him say again,
“Thank you! Bobbi made it for me for our first Christmas together.”
I turned my head around to see the bow tie and chuckled a little by its appearance. It was made of red and white felt that had barely worn over the years. It was a very out-dated portrait of Santa Claus around Grandpa’s collar. Regardless of what it looked like, Grandpa was proud to flaunt it. He told every person at the party that his bride made it just for him. Grandpa was genuinely and unabashedly in love with his wife and he made it known to everyone. It was precious to see his wife blush every time he drew attention to the gift she gave him all those years ago. Such a dashing couple.
This Christmas experience made me realize the value I have in my husband and the passion I desire to have 60 years from now, which will only happen if I preserve our love and protect it, just like Grandpa did with the bowtie.
Marriage is important and I want others to be inspired by the love I share with my husband. I hope this story inspires you as well! May Christmas and our marriage be filled with genuine and unabashed love for one another.
TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:
Jennifer is giving away a copy of her devotional book Wife After God and a $25 Visa gift card to go on a date with your spouse. To enter, leave a comment telling us the best gift you ever got from or gave to a loved one. Or one with a touching story attached.
Mine would be the time my husband got me a leather journal and had written in it and had each of the kids also write in it. I use it to record Bible verses I have memorized.
And you?
I’ve been given so many wonderful gifts over the years, but the best are those things handmade or purchased with hard-earned quarters from my children when they were young. The best gift I’ve given may be time given when I was busy and didn’t see how I could fit in yet one more task; I always received much more back than I ever gave.
The best gifts can’t be bought. When my sons were little they got together and made me a gift book with coupons good for a hug or a kiss and one was ever for a foot rub. That has always been my favorite gift.
Too many to name, but my mom has given me some of the sweetest things, like a handwritten recipe from my grandmother who passed away years ago.
I cross-stitched 62 Christmon ornaments for my now husband the first year he was out of college to hang on the tree in his apartment. They are our entire family’s favorite ornaments and our favorite Christmas tradition. My kids each want me to make them a set for their first Christmases away as well.
My husband is very good at giving thoughtful gifts. One year he gave me beautiful white gold and sapphire earrings on Valentine’s day Then on my birthday he gave me a beautiful white gold and sapphire necklace. Finally, on our anniversary he gave me a gorgeous white gold and sapphire tennis bracelet. Then for our anniversary he took us to get our pictures taken together, and we have a beautiful collage of that day in our room.
It was a rocking chair
My favorite Christmas memory from my childhood. My daddy was a truck driver so Christmas was always when he could get home. He came in one night 2 days before Christmas for a very short time. We all got up and watched him give my mom a gift. He brought her home a beautiful coat and surprised her because her old one was falling apart. I will never forget the look on her face and the tears. That was the only gift I remember him giving her because they had 6 children to buy for.
My husband gave me a wooden key to his heart that he made out of wood and wood burned hearts into and a week later he proposed!
My favorite gift was from my husband a few years ago….a plane ticket to go see my friend cross-country in Washington State. (I’m in Virginia.) It was a surprise and WONDERFUL!! i so loved seeing my friend.
My wedding ring…..My husband bought me a replacement wedding ring after loosing mine, I took it off while sick and pregnant and one of my smaller children took it because it was sparkly, I was so happy to have a ring on my finger again but missing my original one, almost a year later while moving my daughter found it in the bottom of the toy box. I was so thankful to have my original one back. That was my best gift!!
The best gift I ever gave was to my husband. I went through the entire Love Dare challenge and wrote in the journal every day for him. At the end of the challenge, I wrapped the completed journal and presented it as a gift.
The year I got my husband 2 sawhorses that he really wanted but didn’t want to spend the money.
I lost my husband 12 1/2 years ago after being togher for 3 years, the one gift I remember becuse we were careful with money, was a pair of diamond earrings. they were the smallest things ever but so precious because he and my oldest child had picked them out together.
My most memorable and cherished gift was my mothers necklace. Have been wearing it for 7 years!
well all I wanted for Christmas this year was to get my wedding ring fixed, both my anniversary ring and wedding ring have been worn down over 26+ yrs. of wearing daily and need new prongs or they are in danger of losing their stones, so about 6 mos. ago when I found out I quit wearing. We found out it’s not worth replacing the anniv. ring as there are too many prongs? so we opted to just fix the wedding ring and hang on to the anniv. ring till we can save up some $$ to trade it in. I feel lost without it all this time, it is so special to me, never thought I’d be so attached to something, but knowing hubby picked it out and had it styled all those years ago makes it so special.
My husband and I were married on Dec. 23. So, our anniversary is very close to Christmas. The most memorable and meaningful gift that he gave me was for our 7th anniversary. We had very little money to spend on anything that wasn’t needed for our home with three little boys but he came home with a water globe with a rose inside that plays music! It sits on my bedroom dresser! We are coming up on our 24th anniversary.
Just the other day my friend gave me a glass food-grade medicine dropper so I can get the right amount of peppermint exact for my homemade mocha. She just listened watched and saw how I never could get the right amount…then came up with a creative and loving way to solve this not-so-big but annoying problem. My husband has been working in another state and being a single mom to three is wearing on me. This brighten my day!!
The best gift I have ever given was 2 years ago when my dad was dying of cancer. He struggled with God’s sovereignty, goodness, grace, etc… through it. I made him a book of promises from God’s Word, complete with pictures of his grandkids. He keep it by his bed for awhile.
As a child, I loved the gifts my grandma would sew for us. Now I love my moms crochet gifts and the gifts that the kids make. My youngest also got me a special Christmas shirt. He knows I love Christmas and snowmen so he picked out a shirt that had 5 snowmen just like our family!
My favorite gift that I gave to family members was a collection of my grandma’s recipes and a few of the newer family favorites. Some of those were in grandma’s handwriting which was very cool.
I surprised my husband with a grill. I saved up and he was so shocked! It was great!
It would be impossible for me to name just one “best” gift my husband has given me or I him over 25 years together (10 years dating and 15 married). But I will say he has given me the gift of his patience, kindness, compromise, and unconditional love since I was 15 years old.
The best gift was the Christmas of 2010. The love of my life asked me to be his wife and his 3 sons asked me to be their mom!
The first gift I ever received from my spouse, a heart-shaped soapstone box.
My favorite gift memory is the time my brother turned 40. I went to Kmart and bought anything that had the number 40 on it. Envelopes, a 40 inch bungee cord, push pins, etc. For each gift I wrote a card about life: for the bungee cord, something like, “when life pulls hard against you, with faith you can bounce right back. The best part was the loooong silence as he tried to figure out the connection among all the gifts. Once he saw it, it seemed so obvious, and he was so amazed it took him that long to notice.