12 Dates

I have had to learn to be more resourceful, more crafty.  A loss of that kind of income will do it.  I recognize it was my own free will that caused that loss and NO WAY would I ever change that.  This has been the best thing that has ever happened to me (not including people I love).  Sure, I still have stress ~ how will we pay for this, what do we need to downsize, etc. ~ but the blessings have been worth it.  So when it seemed I needed to come up with a Christmas gift for the hubs, I went straight to Pinterest.  I remembered seeing something there about 12 dates and unique ways to have "date night" with your spouse.  While it cost me probably almost as much as a regular, boring Christmas gift from Best Buy, or Newegg, or someplace like that - you know, one that the hubs would actually want.  But making this gift, while stressful because I didn't allow myself enough time to do it without stress, was more fun to get and will be more fun throughout the year for me than whatever game or gadget or technological item would have been.

So, the hubs got the gift of 12 dates.  There were 12 large envelopes, with the month written on the outside.  On the first of each month, he will open the envelope, read about the date, then select a day for the date.  Some of them are stay-at-home dates, some are local Cali dates, and some take us to JC or beyond.  It was fun to come up with 12 different dates, some are things I have not done in a while, some are things I have never done, so it will be good to step outside the comfort zone and make a fool of myself.  And when the year is over, I'll have a new basket to put stuff in.  WIN-WIN!!    

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed 2013.