Back in 1991, during Cliff's and my first Christmas season together...we were pretty much broke. I was an E-4 in the Navy and he had just returned to his civilian job a few months earlier after being activated for Desert Storm AND was in his last semester of college. Our number had just come up to move into military housing a few weeks earlier, so we were able to move out of our ridiculously priced apartment in Irvine, CA...but that also meant no more apartment laundry room. We put every last dime we had into a washer and dryer for our new digs.
We would not have had a Christmas tree were it not for the residual "be nice to the military" sentiments of the day. A local tree lot donated a few hundred to the base and I was fortunate to be one of the first in line. We had about $20 we could spare for decorations. Total. Enter Pic-N-Save (known today as "Big Lots"). We managed to find several cardboard and wooden ornaments...and even a Vegas-style tinsel tree topper.
What I wanted more than anything was a Nativity set. Call me crazy, but I just felt like I would be legitimately grown up and on my own if I had one. The one I really wanted was an all white bisque model from Hallmark. It was way beyond our budget.
But at Pic-N-Save...what should I find for $0.99?
This:
Tiny, hollow-plastic and almost embarrassing...but it was mine, and it would do.
After Christmas, I bought that sweet white Hallmark model for 50% off (The way I have grown most of my collection, actually). I almost even discarded (what we have now dubbed as) the Army Man Nativity as I accumulated others. My daughter asked to have it when she was tiny. Luckily she did...because it took a few years for it to hit me how precious this set was, and it might have been too late.
18 Christmases later, this one is still my favorite. Every year when I take it out I'm reminded of that first Christmas together...that shopping trip to see how far we could make our dollars stretch. I'm reminded of hand-me-down couches and our "dining room" card table...learning what Cliff liked (down home cooking like his Grandma's) and didn't (frozen peas). I'm reminded of lots of "firsts" as we started our new life together...bringing with us the good and discarding the bad...pledging to do things our own way. This was the good stuff!
When I look back at the making of 18 years of family traditions, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and can hardly believe where those humble beginnings and simple desires have taken us. I seriously couldn't have dreamed this!
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