Holidays during Deployment

I think Elvis said it best when he sang "I'll have a blue Christmas without you. I'll be so blue thinking about you. Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree, won't mean a thing, if you're not here with me." Let's face it, deployment is rough! It's not fun any time of the year, but when the holidays roll around and you are facing them without that one person you love so much, deployment is really rough! I was there last year. I had myself and two kids here and a husband in the desert. I dreaded Christmas. But this time of year is as survivable as the rest of the year. I know you are thinking 'what! no, way! i'm miserable!' But Christmas is not just another day. It never is! Christmas is the day of our Savior's birth. With or without our loved one's that day desserves to be celebrated. We spent our day last year opening our gifts and having a nice meal and just watching Christmas movies, relaxing at home. It's great to spend the day with some friends. Bake some cookies. Go ahead and make that Christmas dinner. Do things you would normally do and make the day as "normal" as you can especially if you have kids. It's good for all of you. If it's possible to be with your family, then that's a great idea too! I know being military families we can't always do that. Sometimes that makes things even harder for us. We are so far from all our loved ones. But you know they miss us too. We all just do what we need to do and make the best of it. None of us are in this all alone. It's also a great idea if you know other wives who are spending the holidays without their soldier to invite them over and have Christmas dinner together. You can make a game night out of it. Have a movie night. Cheer each other up. Let the kids play. Make some hot cocoa, put on some carols and sing along. You will be surprised how much your mood is lifted in no time! Now sing it with me....."Joy to the world! The LORD is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart, prepare him room and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing!"