storms stories: How I blessed my husband this Christmas

I was inspired by this post this Christmas season and, therefore, have been doing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" for my husband since December 13th. Of course, I know that the real "Twelve Days of Christmas" begins with Christmas day and counts down to Epiphany, but, for the purpose of blessing my husband, I started it on the 13th of this month and will end on the 24th.

Since we had already committed to not spending anything on each other this year, I had to get creative with my gifts. I took the liberty of spending some of our food money on him...I figured that money would be spent either way, so I did not feel as though I was violating our "no spending" commitment! I made a card with the words "On the ________ day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." on the front and drew a picture hint of what the gift would be on the inside. I put each of these in an envelope with the number on the front and wrote "Merry Christmas" on the back. I gave him the envelope for the day at breakfast each morning (with the exception of day two, which I attempted to hide in his lunchbox...he ended up not eating lunch that day...oops!). It has been so fun for me to give these to him and he has enjoyed this new treat. I hope to make it a tradition every Christmas!

Here is the list of what he received thus far:

One polo shirt (I had returned something to Kohl's and was able to get this off the clearance rack for the exact price of what I returned)
Watching "Lord of the Rings: Two Towers" together after the baby went to bed (I did not realize how LONG this movie was, so Kerry was gracious and let us watch something else instead!)
Singing "We Three Kings" as a family
Four fun and flirty (!) text messages throughout the day
Five haikus written just for him
Six Reese Peanut Butter Trees
Seven encouraging Bible verses
Eight scotcheroos
Nine love notes hidden throughout the house
Ten significant songs from our relationship

Today is day eleven and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly praise my husband by posting...

Eleven Reasons Why I Love You

You are an incredibly intelligent and life-long learner. I am constantly amazed at the sheer volume of subjects you know about. If ever I have a question about something, I can be pretty confident that you will know the answer. You are always striving to learn new things and to better understand the things you already know.
You love Jesus with all your heart. You make time to be in His Word on a regular basis. You make a point to pray with me before we go to bed at night and at the table before our meals. You are an example to others, especially in your family, as evidenced by the fact that you are called upon to pray when we gather for family celebrations.
You spend time with our son. Despite your busy schedule, you make it a priority to get down on the floor and play with Julian every chance you get. I love to see his face light up and hear his little laugh when daddy tickles him or throws his up in the air. You are a wonderful daddy to our little boy.
You remember the little things. You do this on a pretty regular basis, but the example that will always stick in my mind is from when we first started dating. I had told you how my dad celebrated my half birthday when I was growing up by making me half of a birthday cake and writing "Hap Birt Fa" on it. You remembered this and made me half a pan of scotcheroos, complete with "Hap Birt Fa".
You love to read. I devour books. I am so glad that you enjoy reading, too, because we can spend the evening cuddling on the couch, reading our own books and enjoying time together. I can't wait to read some books together with you this coming year.
You are a hard worker. You personify Colossians 3:23 for me. No matter what you are doing, whether it be changing a diaper or learning the codes for your new job, you do it to the best of your ability and with all your heart.
You recognize and appreciate the work I do in our home. Not every stay at home mom has a husband that sees the value in her working at home. I am so thankful that you value my role as homemaker and caretaker of our son.
You are patient with me and others. This is an area in which I struggle. I am not very patient sometimes (okay...most of the time!). I think God purposefully matched us together so I can learn to be patient by your godly example.
You encourage me to be a better person. Whether in regards to exercising consistently or making it possible for me to join a mom's group, you are always looking out for ways to encourage and strengthen me, inside and out.
You put up with my harebrained (sometimes!) ideas. Everything from getting rid of conventional toothpaste to making stock with chicken feet. You take it all in stride and don't complain or make fun of my experiments. What sticks in my mind is the time I made brussel sprouts and they were awful, really awful. You choked one down without complaining, so I figured they turned out great! Not so much. I took my first bite and spit it out :)
You are easygoing and excited about our future. Whenever I start to get worried or begin to panic about our future, I think about how God has it all planned and how you never seem to get worked up over it. Certainly, you have worked hard to prepare to enter medical school, but you have done so with an open heart and a calm spirit, knowing and trusting that "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." (Proverbs 19:21)