Real-Life Romance: Tolerating Christmas

Every couple brings his or her own history of holiday traditions with them when they come to the relationship. Sometimes that makes for a rocky first holiday. Can romance be found in tolerating each other at Christmas? Jenny McLeod Carlisle is guesting today and talking about just that. She's an author I count as a friend ... and I got to edit her soon-to-release book, which is really good so read all the way to the end!

Tolerance is my Christmas Love Language

                After forty-six years of marriage, my husband has become very good at putting up with my foibles.  I’m sure he could easily make you a list of quirks he elects to ignore. As the pages of the calendar diminish each year, my best friend’s tolerance is pushed to the limit.
                James and I met in high school, just weeks after I moved from my birthplace in Kansas to Arkansas. We were seniors at the same, small high school. That first Christmas in my new home, I was very sad. Our family didn’t make the trip to my grandmother’s house and I discovered the depths of homesickness. The familiar gathering with my cousins and all of the traditions involved turned out to be what I missed more than anything else.

                  ​By the time the next December rolled around, James and I had attended prom together, fallen in love, and were engaged to be married.  Our family did make the long drive to South Central Kansas that year, but I had an unexpected reaction. Surrounded by family, and the traditional celebration I had known for my whole life, I found myself missing my new love. Christmas was still my favorite holiday, but my heart had shifted allegiance.
                As a young married couple, we didn’t have money for a big celebration. But, along with spending time with our families, we started our own new traditions. Christmas was still so very important to me. At the risk of the return of my sentimental homesickness, my new husband indulged me with a live Christmas tree, and a store-bought stocking for each of us. We could only afford inexpensive decorations, and the stockings were stuffed with fruit and hard candy. But my heart was happy as I celebrated the birth of our Savior with my forever best friend.
                Over the years, our family grew, the Christmas tree changed from real to artificial, and our celebration centered around the wants and wishes of our children. Along the way, the collection of Christmas decorations increased. My mom created special ornaments for our tree, and I added some of my own. The kids even added to the festivities with pipe cleaner reindeer, clothespin tin soldiers, and aluminum foil stars.
                Those years passed much too quickly, and our Christmas celebrations changed again. With most Christmas mornings back to just the two of us again, my husband might have asked me to scale down the decorations. But instead, he now indulges my whims by allowing me to take charge of the indoor decorations. The tree dominates our living room, and it is full of old sentimental favorite ornaments. He admires the more “put together” look in other homes, but has never asked me to change ours. I devote a whole afternoon to hanging these ornaments, allowing all of the memories to wash over me in the process.
                If the nostalgia stopped with the Christmas tree, hubby would still be my hero. But his indulgence continues to allow personalized Christmas stockings posted with care in front of our fireplace. As the family grew, and the mantle didn’t, he even constructed special ladders to hold these treasures.
                But wait, there’s more! Because I recognize that there is a fine line between collecting and hoarding, I have limited my desire for collecting to one very specific collection the Department Fifty-six Original Snow Village. Over the years, my sweetheart has delighted me by gifting me with a new home or business to add to the display, and even tolerates my mid-year Christmas in July celebration when the set emerges from the closet around the time of my birthday. (Spoiler alert- this village inspired a very special Christmas novella that will make its debut before Christmas of 2024.)
                Admittedly, my husband loves Christmas, too. He allows me so much leeway, and never ridicules my sentimentality at this special time of year.  I add this to the list of reasons that I know God sent him especially to me. Sorry, not sorry, I have the best husband.
                May our Heavenly Father fill your heart with joy this year as you ponder His greatest gift to all of us. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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Jenny McLeod Carlisle has been writing stories since she learned to hold a pencil. She retired from a career in Human Resources for the State of Arkansas. She was a long-time columnist for Ouachita Life magazine. She collected some of those inspirational columns along with blogs created during the pandemic into two self-published books, “Turn, Turn, Turn”, and “To Everything a Season”.  Her first fiction project, “Hope Takes the Reins” was released by Scrivenings Press in March of 2022. The second in the series, “Faith Moves Mountains” is scheduled for the end of January, 2023. She and her husband, James live in Benton, Arkansas where they worship with a very active congregation of the Church of Christ. Their family includes three married children and eight grandchildren. She enjoys substituting a few days a week in middle school, junior high and high school classrooms.  Her writing is intended to inspire hope and encouragement for each day of her reader’s journey.
Follow her on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/jennycarlisleauthor
Twitter
(18) Jenny Carlisle (@jennycarlisle3) / Twitter
Website
Jenny McLeod Carlisle – Seeking, Waiting, Walking (jennycarlisle.com)
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Faith Moves Mountains
 
John Kennedy (John K.) Billings has spent his whole life living up to his hero inspired name. Now, back from a traumatic incident in the military, he finds himself running from the fact that he is only human, with real-life struggles to overcome.
Faith Caldwell feels free to pursue her own dreams now that her family’s regularly scheduled rodeo has ended. After helping care for her cancer-stricken mother she is determined to bring big city medical expertise to small-town Arkansas. While trying to prove she can fulfill her dream on her own, a new admirer seems determined to pull her down.
Both enjoy the idea of seeing more of the world, but find their hearts are still tied to the mountains of Arkansas, and the people who live there.
Can these lifelong neighbors help each other face their weaknesses while following God’s plan for their lives?
 

Be sure to check out the previous book, Hope Takes the Reins, before this beautiful story releases in January!

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