30 Dec
A Debtless Christmas
While I truly hope you all had as lovely a Christmas as I did, I cannot imagine that’s possible. My condolences.
It has been a stunningly wonderful holiday season. And not only was it all done with cash, we even paid down another thousand dollars of our debt.
At The Wife’s insistence we had a Christmas sinking fund and spent it on the kids; $100 each. That may not seem like much, but it was enough and generous grandparents from both sides of the aisle made for lots of love and plenty of presents to unwrap.
Ice-cold weather. Lots of good food, candies and baked things. All-day fires roaring in the fireplace. My parents visiting to enjoy their grandkids’ fifth Christmas. And me with all of last week off.
It was absolutely fantastic.
Yesterday was my thirty-eighth birthday. Before getting on the road to work I opened a card left behind by my dear folks. It had a generous cash gift; enough to take the whole family out for a fun lunch. So The Wife and Kids drove into town and we had a fabulous lunch together.
In a restaurant.
And none of us work there!
These are good moments, people.
Remember turning the Christmas lights off? Well, that played out too. The kids totally got it. We are getting out of debt and daddy sold the light controllers. No fuss. No complaints at all about the static lights I hung around the eves.
However, I was not prepared for the countless cars who stopped by only to leave disappointed. Several caught me with the garage open, rolled down their windows and asked where the light show was. I told the briefest version of our story I could. They all said how our show had become a tradition for them and one fellow offered to donate cash. It is ironic that I was the one bolstered by my kids’ easy acceptance when chatting with the crest fallen passers-by.
All of it, of course, strengthened and solidified our resolve to become debt-free. The best Christmas we’ve ever had full of joy, laughter and wonderful memories. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I hope you feel the same and wish you all a wonderful New Year.
the Dad
Posted by Jeremy on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
I just read the post about selling the lights and wondered how it went this year. Glad to hear things worked out with the kids, and a big congrats on the debtless Christmas!
We share common elements in our stories. Nov ‘08 was also our rock bottom. We got a plan in June and also had our first Cash (and gift card) Christmas with nothing to pay later! It feels awesome, I’m with you there!
Keep up the good work!
Posted by Sharon on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
Funny, this was the first year we did not put Christmas lights outside, the kids didn’t complain but the neighbors said something…they missed it! Well, I won’t miss the large electric bill in January, for sure!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the new year be filled with many zero balances!
Posted by jpkittie on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
Good for you! I am totally impressed! Not only did you have a CASH CHRISTMAS (which alone is absolutely AMAZING!) but you also paid $1k towards debt!!! That is awesome! good for you!!!!! Heres to a fantastic start to 2010
Posted by Liz on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
You two are an inspiration. Christmas is not an emergency, but it’s funny how guilt makes us think it just might be. You’re 33% there! Happy New Year!
Posted by jolie on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
Thanks for stopping by my site. Sounds like you had a fantastic Christmas with the best gift of all…family. Wishing you all the best in 2010.
Posted by Maci on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
I’ve been waiting for you to post again! I found your blog about a month ago when my husband and I started on our journey to a debt free existence. I read your entire blog in one sitting and was completely motivated and continue to watch for more updates. I can completely relate to what you are going through and so appreciate your honesty about your situation, both in your blog and to your friends and coworkers – and yourself! This post in particular resonated with me. We too had a wonderful holiday (Hanukkah for us) and I am so proud that my husband and I went into it with a plan and STUCK TO IT! I’ll admit though, it was hard. We even went so far as to go to Costco, stand in front of the $189 Nintendo DSi that our 7 year old said she was dying for, looked at each other and said, “we cannot buy this”. I walked out of Costco knowing that we had made the right decision, one that our 7 year old will someday be proud of, even if she doesn’t think she will be now. This year the holidays were more meaningful for us for all the reasons you said above. So in other words “get out of my brain”!! Thanks for continuing to share your story.
Posted by the Dad on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
Maci – fabulous comment, thank you! The Wife is Jewish as well, but we have only celebrated Hanukkah cursorily (i.e. eat lots of great food!). We’ll keep plugging away as long you all do, deal?
Happy New Year!
Posted by Jeffrey Johnson on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
So happy it is January. I spent way way to much past few months. Thankfully all spending was with cash. And I have alot still in my bank for the rainy days as rest country might think economy and country great but I still see dark clouds.
Posted by Emily on 30.12.09 at 12:40 pm
I’m a day late and a dollar short as usual but I really enjoyed this post. Happy new year!