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Home for the Holidays #HickoryTradition
Home for the Holidays. It can mean so much to the mobile, military family. Sometimes it means having your spouse beside you as you celebrate a quiet Christmas, just the two of you. It can mean jumping in the car and travelling thousands of miles to be home with Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters. Then there are the holidays when your kids surround you as the anticipation mounts for such a fun day all the while talking with their mom or dad on Skype while they serve over seas and in foreign lands.Pin this image for an additional chance to win a Gift Basketfrom Hickory Farms. Further details belowSo tell us: What does…
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The Home Depot Celebration of Service 2012 – Meet a military family.
The Home Depot Celebration of Service 2012 – Meet the Purvis family! I had the pleasure of meeting the Purvis family in GrandRapids, Michigan last week, as a part of The Home Depot Celebration of Service 2012. The Home Depot provided them (that we delivered) with decorations, a corner Christmas tree, and an opportunity to meet a wonderful family. Throughout my time with the family we shared plenty of laughs and a few serious and emotional topics. Mr. Purvis has been in the Army National Guard forabout 11 years. He has been deployed 3 times,to Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan. The family’s living room wall is covered in pictures and memories…
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More than just the winter-blues
The Holidays. They can be a very tough time of year. Not only is it getting darker and darker in our part of the hemisphere but we are missing family, friends and loved ones that are around the world. We are looking back at our year and have seen changes we may or may not like. We are looking ahead wondering what the year ahead will have in store for us. Your spouse might be deployed. Your parents might be thousands of miles away. You may be experiencing the mind-blowing effects of PTSD. Your schedule is crazy and the thought of ‘Silent Night’ is really only a song. Or it might…
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Commissary Gift Card for You
It is that time of year. When we have a hard time finding air because the schedule is so busy. Parties, kid-concerts, shopping, meal planning, travelling and so much more. It is easy to get lost in the festivities and forget to take a moment to remember the joy in the season. Start your membership today – www.sittercity.com/dod To help encourage and empower our military families SitterCity has presented us with four $50 Commissary cards to give to military-families! Wow, what a wonderful gift! To be entered for our random drawing tell us something you love about the holidays.(This one is a must in order to be entered!) To be entered again Like…
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Military Friends – A Puzzle for Our Civilian Counterparts
Military friends! Sometimes our military lifestyle is a puzzle to our civilian friends and the rest of the nation. We have some opportunities that civilians normally do not receive and we also face challenges and lifestyle issues they may never see. But one thing we have that is “just to die for” is our military friends. We come together from all over the country (and in some cases the world), of all races, ethnic backgrounds, economic and educational levels, different goals and lifestyles and so much more diversity that most Americans ever have the opportunity to experience. I have to admit that this is our (my military spouse, mil brats…
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Small Business Saturday: November 24, 2012
I am really intrigued by this idea of “Small Business Saturday”. The premise is the Saturday after Thanksgiving you go to your local family-owned, small business stores to do your Christmas Shopping.I got this ‘chain email from my mother-in-law a couple weeks ago. Usually I immediately hit delete on chains. I get over 100 emails a day so the delete key is my friend. But this one caught my eye and hits right along the Small Business Saturday concept: As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense…
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Full of Thanks
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far. Christmas and Easter shape my life but have become way too commercialized and, in general, we’ve lost the meaning. There’s not much pressure with Thanksgiving though. Wednesday I’ll turn the music up, bake some cookies, pies and bread. I’ll enjoy having the kids’ help once in awhile (especially with the cookie part) and then Thanksgiving, this year, we’ll head to hub’s family gathering; sixty to seventy of his closest relatives. No fuss, just family. I also love taking the time to enjoy what we are thankful for. This year, at dinner, we have gone around the table each day and said something we are thankful for. …
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Away for the Holidays – Care Package Ideas and More
There are a few Christmases that stand out in my life. I remember our first Christmas in Iceland after being separated from my dad for six months while we waited for a house to open up at Keflavik NAS. He had to report without his family but just before the holidays new friends opened up their home to us so that we could be together as a family. Our house would be ready when they returned from a vacation back to the states. That was the Christmas of Homecoming. (Although a new home, but home none the less). Another very memorable Christmas for me was the year my husband was in…
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Are You Part of Your Local Community?
“As we took our first break, one of the other workers, asked us what we had done to earn community service hours?” Volunteers at workBecoming part of the outside the gate community is often very difficult for military members and their families. We PCS often, have different interests, go to unit functions and with young families, it just seems like we are too busy to really connect. But there are so many good reasons to find a connection in your local community. Here are few of the reasons we continue to be a part of the community after living the military lifestyle for many years: 1 – Participation makes you feel good…
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“A Passion and Desire to Get Things Done Right” DoD Blogger Roundtable
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been tough on the men and women of our armed services! We have suffered casualties, multiple long deployments and families have sacrificed too with impacts on spouse employment, child care help from a spouse, missed /holidays/birthdays/anniversaries, etc. But often we forget about the equipment that is used to fight and protect our combatants. AH-64 – See below for photo credit The desert environment has been particularly hard on all the services’ equipment and will need to be taken care in an austere budget time frame. From ground transportation vehicles, to helicopters, other aircraft, weapons and ground equipment like generators the toll has been…
