I knew I had purchased our original set from Target, so on one of my weekly (sometimes twice a week) trips to Target I paroozed the holiday decor section. At first, it looked as though they no longer carried the same ones, and I'd have to swallow my pride and buy TWo whole new sets. But to my delight I found a 2-pack in the back, behind some discounted snow globes! SCORE! I didn't even know they sold them in sets of two! I thought I'd have to buy a whole new 4-pack, just to get one matching hanger to my already existing set! I was so proud, and somehow felt I was getting a deal only having to buy one extra instead of three! GO ME! Gotta love a good deal during the holidays!
When I got home, I went straight to the fireplace. I could barely contain myself, I was so excited to finally have all 5 stockings hanging up together! It wasn't until later that night, when Scott came home from work, that I realized I had mistakenly put up the extra hanger!
"Hey, you put Bentley's stocking up! Looks great! What's with the other hanger, though?" Scott asked with a perplexed look on his face. "What other hanger?" I asked, trying to remember what I had done with the extra one from my perfect little 2 pack. "There's an empty one next to Ethan's stocking, see?" Scott said pointing to it.
Huh! I didn't even realize I had put it there!? "Is that for our baby's stocking?" Scott asked with a sweet smirk on his face. I looked at him with what I'm sure appeared to be 'a dear in head lights' face and began to feel my heart flutter a little. I couldn't think of anything to say. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with emotion, but somehow managed to mumble, "they came in a two pack".
Scott paused for a second, looked back at the empty hanger and said "let's leave it there. Maybe it will bring us a baby next Christmas."
I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. "OK" I said with a smile. He gently kissed me on my forehead and headed upstairs to change.
I sat there staring at the empty stocking hanger for what felt like an hour. I contemplated taking it down. I didn't want to be over zealous and start getting ahead of myself, decorating for a baby that we don't even have yet. But something stopped me. A tiny little voice in my head said, "that empty stocking hanger is for our baby. His or her stocking will hang there on Christmas. Maybe not this Christmas, or even next Christmas. But it will hold our baby's stocking alongside the rest of our family's stockings someday."
So I left it there. And it is still hanging there. And it will hang there every Christmas from here on out.
Maybe this was God's way of telling us to keep holding on just a little longer. To keep pressing forward and not to give up hope. Maybe He put that one last 2-pack of hangers behind those snow globes, just for me, to remind me that one day, there will no longer be an empty stocking hanger on our mantel.
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Scott and I have officially started the IVF process. We are scared, excited but hopeful. We will be documenting this process on video and I'll for sure be blogging as much as I can! We hope you will follow us along on this journey! No one should ever have to go through this process alone! We are so grateful for all the love and support we've gotten from our friends, family and even a few new friends who have reached out to graciously share their stories with us! I'm sure there will be lots of laughter and tears along the way, but we hope to walk away with a great story that we will be able to share with our future son or daughter and to show others that with a little faith, love and perseverance, anything is possible!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
