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Monday, December 24, 2007

CAN"T DO THIS

WITH "SNAIL" MAIL

Received this cute e-card today



Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive



"Let's all be careful out there!"

Please, Do your part.

Every week, there are men and women serving overseas who get no mail from home. It's time for you, my reader, to take a minute and a half out of your day and do your duty so that none of these extraordinary men and women go without a little love this holiday season. I am personally asking you to visit Let's Say Thanks, select an image and a message or create your own and submit it. Cards will be printed by the Xerox company and sent to our troops overseas. Leave a comment letting me know that you sent one. or six. or eighteen.

Bloggers, if you can, I'd appreciate you putting this(or a post similar) on your blog sometime during the holiday season to help spread the word.

And for your enjoyment, here's a great song/video written by a soldier serving in Iraq.

Mike Corrado - My Watch Tonight

Just a minute of your time can really make a difference in someone else's life. Thank you in advance, my friends.


Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive



"Let's all be careful out there!"

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS STORY

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the
snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your
sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice,
I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram' always
remembers."

"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her
smile."

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home".

"I can stand at my post through the rain and the
sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother."

"Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not
fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
"It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're
gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long."

"For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."


Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive



"Let's all be careful out there!"

A XMAS .GIF

FOR YOU

If you need a .gif or .jpeg, just grab what you want.

ADDENDUM
Quite a few of these .gifs are animated but didn't show up that way on the post. Just click an image to find those that are in motion.

Also, the last image is a pic from inside the Vatican, taken by my co-worker, Tina, during her vacation in 2006.








Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive



"Let's all be careful out there!"