Merry Christmas!!!

Posted on by December 24, 2020

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Merry Christmas to you and yours wherever you may be.

This year, due to the WuFlu, I won’t be able to have Christmas with my kids and now three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Seeing them is something truly special to me.

As I sit here in a warm kitchen sipping a cup of coffee, I can’t help remembering back to being a little boy some 60 years ago, I can only give thanks that I’ve made it this far. I remember the first bike, the first Tonka toys (what I wouldn’t give to still have them), riding over to my friends houses to see what they got and playing for hours…

Then the military, some years Christmas was a string of tinsel in the shop in some overseas location and a box of cookie crumbs.  Other years it was taking the watch so another sailor could have Christmas with his wife and kids. And then it was my family, those first Christmases with my daughters, watching them tear into the wrapping paper with glee, and playing as much with the boxes as the dolls and other toys.

Now I get to watch that for another generation and I’m truly humbled by it.  And thankful I made it this far.  I also can’t help but remember those that didn’t. the ones who for a myriad of reasons aren’t spending time with their families, because we buried them along the way, or they are standing the duty in those far flung locations far from home.

nuff said…

Comments

Merry Christmas!!! — 19 Comments

  1. Merry Christmas to you and yours,
    I spent a few Christmas’s away from home as well.
    It makes those at home that much sweeter.
    Thanks for the video, though it did stir the dust and got in my eyes some, it is important to remember our Brothers and Sisters who stand a watch today.
    Our own hearts are filled with gratitude and pride
    for those who stand that watch today
    as well as sadness for those who have passed away.
    **************************************************
    For all of those who wish the Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine “Thanks for your service” –
    Simply be the kind of American that is worthy of that service and sacrifice and we will consider it an honor to serve.

    Merry Christmas to ALL,
    And may we ALL have a Blessed New Year

    MSG Grumpy

  4. Happy Christmas NFO. Good to have you as a neighbor. Thank you.

  5. Will be quietly toasting those now on watch, and those absent friends we’ll meet again some day.

  6. Mmm. Stale cookies that had been shaken around in a box for several months while being shipped overseas. The best. Took generally all of about a minute and a half to eat them all when you waved your arms and said “homemade cookies”. Nobody cared how stale or how broken up.

  7. I had 320 days below ground, but never a Christmas, IIRC, which I might not.

  8. Hey Old NFO;

    Merry Christmas to you and yours and very glad to see the blog up and running again 🙂 I am thankful every year that I make it another year and I am together with my family, being deployed and missing Christmas far away from hope makes one appreciates the little things..

  10. All- Thank you, and yes, stale cookie crumbs never lasted… LOL

    Posted from my iPhone.

  11. My first Christmas in the Army, I was still stateside, training as a medic at Fort Sam, so I got to fly home. A buddy and I were travelling together, and we had to lay-over in New Orleans for a few hours. So, being stupid young GIs, we went to Bourbon Street. What a bizarre place to be during Christmas!
    For Christmas 1973 & 1974, I was in Germany. On my mail home, I wrote:
    “We miss you a weary Christmas, and a happy you near!”

    Remembering all our brothers and sisters today. Besides being Christmas, it’s also R.E.D. Friday: Remember Everyone Deployed!

    Peace be on your household.

  13. Merry Christmas. I’m sorry that you’re not with your children and grandchildren. But maybe you can make up for it once the plague has passed.

  14. Know the feeling. All alone in this quiet ol’ hooch.
    Thinking of a few guys I know on the line. ‘Bit’ pushing his F-18 around Wespac, some others.
    Have a good one Jim.

  16. Went to work at 0445 this Xmas morning serving others as a civvy. Couldn’t finish the video, too dusty. Thanks for it, ONFO.