The Shepherd's Dogs' Christmas

This year at House Greyhawk we're spending our first Christmas in America since 2001.

As much as we miss Germany...

...it's good to be home.

A poem from Russ Vaughn:

To Our Sheepdogs

It’s so easy to forget them there,
As we warm beside the fire,
Those spread so far out everywhere,
Those sent to man the wire.
Patrolling on the front line,
As peacefully here we bask,
Protecting what is yours and mine,
That’s their hard, dreary task.

Like sheep we are protected,
From the far off wolves of war,
And our Sheepdogs as expected,
Never waver from their chore.
In peace we sheep ignore their kind,
Wary of their violent trends;
But when the wolves attack we find,
These Sheepdogs are our friends.

Forever this has been the way,
Since time for us began,
Sheep fearing that the Sheepdogs may
Disrupt our placid plan.
Yet time again Dogs surely prove,
When comes a wolfine danger,
The Sheepdogs will most swiftly move
To guard the lambs, the manger.

So here’s to Sheepdogs everywhere
At this Christmas time of year;
Just know the flock is with you there,
And we wish you Christmas cheer.
We wish we could advance the clock,
Cause truth is, Dogs, we miss you,
To the day that you’ll rejoin the flock,
When we’ll sheepishly then kiss you.

Russ Vaughn

To more fully understand the “Sheepdogs” reference, the reader should go here and here.

And our friend Bill Faith writes:

You might be interested in knowing I've brought my alphabetized Russ Vaughn index up to date and moved it here. Also, if you've ever wondered what Russ looked like you might want to click here.

I know you're going to see some great "Merry Christmas to our troops" things in the next couple of days but yule be hard pressed to find anything that improves on what The Gray Dog just posted. Click here.

Merry Christmas.

I believe I am about to get the best Christmas present of my whole life...

A funny thing about Christmas in Baghdad. Christian, atheist, or other, most folks who grow up in America consider Christmas a great family holiday, a chance to reunite and share gifts and catch up with the widespread relatives. Missing this aspect of the day turned many folks sour - but not those who saw the day primarily as a celebration of the birth of Jesus. In other words, those who knew the real purpose of Christmas actually enjoyed the holiday, while those for whom it was a secular event were rather morose and withdrawn and distinctly more unhappy on the day. Stated differently, the farther from the " real meaning of Christmas" you stood, the more the holiday depressed you - those for whom it meant the least were hit the worst by the day.

So much went on during that one day that I'm sure I could write a book about those 24 hours. For starters, the worst weather of the year. A cold rain, flooded ground, mud everywhere, missions cancelled, you name it. But as miserable as I was I saw something that reminded me that someone always has it worse. I'd just donned my armor and started for the DFAC. As I splashed past the porta potties I noticed the smell. The team of civilian third country nationals was busy cleaning them, even on Christmas day in the rain. Off to the side stood the escort for the workers. His sole purpose in life was to ensure the guys cleaning the porta potties didn't get up to any "funny business" and plant bombs or steal anything during performance of their duties.

As I walked past the escort, I considered saying one of the following things to him:

"Merry Christmas"

"Hey, this is a Christmas you'll tell your grandchildren about - the year you helped free Iraq!"

or

"Son, if you move over to this side (pointing) you'll notice the wind won't blow in your face off the porta potties any more"

In the end I said nothing, just moved on. Sometimes there's nothing you can say.

An exchange of emails with my 13 year old daughter over Christmas holidays.

Her: Merry Christmas! (Note: Original in red and green letters 1 inch high)

Me: Merry Christmas to you! Christmas isn't too bad here, weather is awful though. We had a great meal in the chow hall (don't tell grandma I ate there). Last night some folks put on a Christmas show and that was great too. There were enough people to make a nice choir and they sang Christmas songs and told the story of the first Christmas.

This will make all the future Christmases much nicer I think. It will be even better to be all together.

Tell me what you got!!!!!!!!!!!

Her: i got mostly clothes. i got the sims 2 game. i got this black makeup kit. ear rings, a necklace, a hat, a purse, a candle, and these cool monster feet slippers and a pink safe. (big brother) actually picked out our gifts this year. he got me the slippers and candle. (big sister) got me the purse and pink safe. we're gonna take pictures of our piles of stuff we got. did you get our cookies yet?

why dont you want me to tell grandma that you ate there?

Me:Don't worry about Grandma, that was just a joke. She wants me to stay away from crowds.

Why would you wear black makeup?

Her: its not black make up. its a case of makeup and the case is black. here's a picture of the stuff i got. actually its the things i got but most of them are in different colors. but thats only the stuff mum got me. did you get those pictures mom sent? we put my monster feet on the dogs. man, nothing interesting has happened lately. except for this one day we went on base and we were eating at the food court. me and (big sis) went to fill up our cups and this chick who looks about (big sis) age (who we noticed behind us in line) comes up and says, "excuse me, um my friend over there thinks your hot," and i thought she was only talking to (big sis) but then she says "both of you and i just wanted to let you know that" and i was just shocked at first. the first thing that came out of my mouth when she turned around was, "IM 13 YEARS OLD!" so then we sit down and tell mom. and i start to unwrap my taco and i say to mom and sis, "you know how to take care of a problem like this?" and i look over in there direction except i couldnt see cuz i didnt have me glasses on and i smile. and then i open my mouth huge and take a huge bite of my taco. meat and sour cream came out the other end and then i was chewing with my mouth open and just looking as gross as possible. oh man. so funny.

Me:Well, I suppose if you're going to wear makeup you'll have to get used to that sort of thing. ;)

Sounds like you can handle it though.

All Mrs G wants for Christmas is a soldier coming home.

For those troops that are reading blogs to get closer to home, our thoughts and prayers are with you. We love and miss you.

Merry Christmas,
Keep Safe,
Come home soon.

ps

Greyhawk,

I've spent too much on Christmas presents this year,
I think trying to compensate for you not being here,
but out of all those gifts under the tree,
the only gift these kids want is you to come home safe and free.

XXXXOOOO

(Now this didn't start out to be a poem but after the first three lines it had to end as one. I think there's a poetic bug in the blogosphere air)

Tending Distant Fires

Far from hearth and home, watching
Cold alone but not alone
On distant shore and only wanting
Safe return and little more

What tales we'll tell
When that time comes
When tales can be told

When things grim
Seem far away
When other fires go cold

Some distant sunset, vision fading
Memories remain
And tired eyes gaze 'pon folded flags
While distant drums beat their refrain

Saluting fallen friends whose names
And youth will never fade
Here's to those on other shores,
for them live well, the price is paid

- Greyhawk,
-- Iraq, December 2004