My husband, Michael, and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago.  It’s been an expensive year–medical bills and the early demise of our 2006 VW Jetta–so neither one of us was inclined to spend money.  In fact, the car died the week before our anniversary, so I guess you could say that we bought each other a new car as a present, although he did all the research and narrowed it down to a few choices for me–so maybe I should just graciously say, he gave me a car for our anniversary.  But you know, when you HAVE to buy a car, it’s not really so much a gift as a necessity.  Or, as one friend said–it isn’t exactly like the Christmas Lexis commercials where you step outside and there’s a new car with a bow on it.  Still, kudos to him for steering us to an electric car.

So if his gift was high tech, mine was unabashedly low tech.  I essentially made him a gigantic card, spanning the length of our dining room table.  I came up with 8 pairs of objects that either naturally go together or are forced together, and one extra.  Feel free to steal the idea (the scissors ARE the best).  Here goes:

1. You need: string, markers, card stock , blank paper,  or index cards, random things you have around the house that you never thought were crafty, and your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

2. Tie a string to the bedpost, the stairs, or any other place that can’t be missed and attach an arrow to it, or, as I did, a card that says “you are”

3. Match common objects bacon with eggs (OK, confession, i found these great tin bacon and egg pieces on ebay and had them on hand because they were cool–they actually inspired the card), chips and dip, salt and pepper, matches and candles, etc. I made 8 pairs, as you can see below, which equals 16 years plus an extra special message for year seventeen. If you are in an even numbered year (although let’s face it, every year of marriage is an odd year, right?), then you will have to split the last pairing to make the point. See below.

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Start with a teaser . . .

 

 

I do understand that not everyone has battery operated christmas lights or an old bubblegum dispenser, but you probably have a string of lights, or even a candle operated tea light somewhere in your house.  And there are probably all kinds of things you all do together, eat together, or watch together that lend itself to pairings.

The POINT of it all, really, is that love is boundless, and endlessly creative, and one never has to spend money to show that.

So, happy anniversary to my beloved husband, yet again.  Thanks for tolerating the inevitable mess that seems to accompany all my projects and for cherishing these curious little presents you get every year.  And good luck to the rest of you–send me a picture if you do a dining room table card.