Peace on Earth: Remembering the Military at Christmas

There may be specific days to remember our active, retired, and lost military, but that doesn’t mean it should only be on those days.

Two years ago, just before Christmas Eve, my husband, son, and I made a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. LB was still in his quiet cuddly phase, so this visit was full of reverence. As you look through my photos from that visit, please take a moment to appreciate and reflect upon the sacrifice made by serving and retired military, especially those who cannot be home for the holidays then I’ll tell you a story.

Now, here’s a story for you. About 12 or so years ago just before Christmas, my mother was working at a hospital and a member of the U.S. Military was a patient (I’m being intentionally vague). He would not be released for the holiday, he did not have his belongings with him due to circumstances, and he had not gotten his fiance a gift. My Mom is a talker so she sat with him and visited, asking what his fiance likes and her hobbies, hoping to come up with the perfect gift idea. Through the conversation, he said she loves the game Clue. My Mom had that stuck in her head. She came home that night and asked why that seemed so familiar. Wellllllll, in September of that year, my Dad had ordered my Christmas gift because it was expected to sell out. It was the Parker Brothers: CLUE 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition in Metal Tin. When he checked out, there was an option to send an Amazon gift credit to a member of the U.S. Military serving overseas. This was ideal for them to order Christmas gifts to send to their families Stateside. My Dad selected this option. What he didn’t realise until the parcel arrived was that he clicked SUBMIT twice so he donated two gift certificates and ended up with two CLUE Anniversary Edition Tin Games. When my Mom came home with the story of the soldier in her hospital, he made sure the accidental second game tin went to him and it felt like that was where it was always meant to go. His fiance LOVED it! Sometimes mistakes work out to be perfect, don’t they?