Four Years and Christmas Nostalgia

This past Tuesday Jayson and I celebrated our 4th anniversary.

Getting married to Jayson that day was the best decision I ever made. Seriously, it's so cliche, but I really think we're perfect for one another. We are very similar, but balance each other our at the same time. I can't imagine my life without him. He always knows how to cheer me up and he's so patient with me when I'm crazy.

(For whatever reason our anniversary pictures never really turn out very well. This is about the best we got!)

But anyway, FOUR! Can you believe it? Time flies, am I right? But then, was I ever NOT married to Jayson? I'm pretty sure I always have been. You know what I mean?

We got married exactly a week before Christmas and everyone thought that was crazy. And it probably was. People even told me that I would regret having my anniversary so close to Christmas for the rest of my life. Now, I'll admit, I never said to myself, "Self, one day I want to get married during Christmastime!" Because that's not normal, right? It turns out though, that this is one of those things where it turns out better than you could have ever planned it yourself. You guys, I LOVE having my anniversary during Christmastime. Yes, sometimes it's hard to celebrate because it's hard to find time to celebrate and because money is always a little tight around the holidays anyway. But I love Christmas with all my heart, so having a really special day so close to it makes me crazy-giddy.  Being able to do Christmasy stuff on your anniversary is wonderful. I love that when I'm downtown at Christmastime it makes me nostalgic for that sweet wedding day that was ours. Plus, I've always thought this time of year is really romantic.

All of this Christmas business has had me reflecting on our life of four years together. I've been thinking a lot about where we were on each past anniversary/ Christmas. Also, a friend of mine that got married around the same time as me posted pictures of all of their Christmas trees from the past years and it got me reflecting on all that our Christmas trees can tell us about our stages of life.

For example, the other day I was setting up our old little three or four foot Christmas tree at work so that I could have it by my desk. I thought about how now we have a lovely, big  tree in our living room with mostly matching ornaments and a pretty new star.

I love our big tree and I'm so happy that I get to have it in our bay window, because for years I've always wanted to have a bay window that faces the street and to have our Christmas tree in it.

But that little tree got me thinking about our past Christmases. Our first Christmas we didn't have a tree because we got married just a week before Christmas and didn't get back from our honeymoon until Christmas Eve. Our second Christmas I think we had a very small little tree, but not much in the way of decorations because we had just moved from Logan to Salt Lake a week and a half before Christmas. Our third Christmas is the one I remember the most distinctly. That was the first year I really tried  to make our home looks Christmas-ey. That was what I thought of while I was setting up that very same tree by my desk.  I remember how it had all of the mis-matched ornaments. We didn't have a tree topper so we jimmy-rigged one of my willow tree angels to the top with ornament hanging wire. And as I thought of that tree the other day at work my heart just melted. I realized that I miss that tree. I'm so very fond of it. It will always remind me of our sweet, humble beginnings. While I was putting it up I asked my co worker, "Why is it that often when we have the least are the memories we cherish the most?" She replied back, "Because that's when we're the most humble and we're the closest to God."
And you know what? I think she's right. I think it's also because those are great building years. Those were the years (and, really they kind of still are) that we were first learning how to build a life together. We were learning which Christmas traditions we should keep from whose family, and making some of our own.

Our fourth Christmas was our first in our new house and that one was a sweet one too. It was our first year with our big tree. My dream came true of putting a tree in the bay window. It still had its mis-matched ornaments and we had a hand me down retro star on top, but we loved it just the same. 

And while I love our tree right now a really big part of me misses those mis-matchy trees. I'll always think of them fondly. I have decided that I always want to put up that little tree of ours with all of its crazy ornaments as well as the big one so we can remember those days of living in basement apartments and having a humble little tree. It holds so many memories of new starts, hope, dreams, and love.

Also, one day I want to have a tree this big:

But, seriously.