Mrs. Parker: No, you'll shoot your eye out" ~ A Christmas Story, 1983.
Heidi is leaving Monday on a ten day mission. Her PSD will be gone for Thanksgiving, so it looks like the dinner on the big day is an MRE. With Heidi now back in Gardez, today I started a list of what I want to get her for Christmas. I need to ship her gifts soon. Even though we have excellent mail service in the United States, sometimes it takes awhile for packages to reach her FOB. She says it is already very cold there, snowing already, and thick socks and warm gloves might come in handy. I am thinking about adding some chapstick and hot chocolate packets, too.
This is the third year Heidi will not be home for Christmas. I miss her so much. Heidi loves Christmas and never missed our family holiday activities even when she was home and had her own place.
While looking at some of the hundreds of pictures she has given to me of her time in the Middle East, I started thinking about her fellow soldiers there in Afghanistan and how much their families miss them, too. And what about the soldiers? What must it be like to spend the holidays so far away from home? All of the things we here at home take for granted, the turkey dinner, the Christmas carols, living Nativities, presents under the tree, time with family and friends, they will once again miss.
So I decided to go through Heidi's pictures and share some of them with you. These are her fellow soldiers ~ the people, men and women, she spends her days with. The soldiers she depends on to look out for her as she looks out for them.
Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, like Heidi, who will not be home again for Christmas this year.
Would you like to help me send out some boxes of Christmas goodies to Heidi's fellow soldiers? Maybe your school class, your Sunday School class or your book club would like to help?
I am going to get one of those artificial trees, some lights, some Santa hats, some fake snow, some tinsel, some Christmas coffee, some chocolate covered cherries.......
Thanks. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Kerri
email to Heidi: maggiepershing@yahoo.com
Mail to Heidi: Heidi Drylie
HHC/3rd BSTB
APO AE 09354
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