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.”

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many  people
as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our  U.S
service men and women for our being able to celebrate these  festivities.
Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for
us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Thanks to Sarah for passing this along!

I hope you are all doing somethng special to the brave men and women who are serving/have served our country and fought for our freedoms.  As a military wife I thank God every day for those who have put their lives on the line for the freedoms we have, and I am so proud to call Corporal A. B.  Crum, veteran of the USMC and active duty Solider in the United States Army my husband.  I love you babe! Okay, there’s my shout out.  Now on to the deals!

Applebees is saying Thank You on November 11th to both Active Duty and Retired Military with a FREE entree. GO HERE for more details.

What are you and your family doing in honor of Veteran’s Day?

Couponing 104

Maintaining Your Coupon Collection

Creating your coupon collection is only half the battle; maintaining your coupon collection takes minimal time but will reward you with huge paybacks in the form of grocery and household savings.  Ever gone to grab your coupon binder only to realize you haven’t cracked it open in a few weeks and now it’s chock full of expired coupons?  I know I certainly have, in the midst of the business of raising two small children and completing a Bachelor’s degree.  Here is a system that will take you a quick 20 minutes or so every other  week ( add another 20 for clipping and filing your weekly inserts) but will make your shopping life much easier.

Just a quick note, and this one’s kind of a “DUH,” but continue to build your collection.  As I’ve mentioned before, one Sunday Paper per person in your house is what I advise (of course…if one of your “persons” has no teeth yet and does not use toilet paper…see picture below…then you probably won’t need a paper for them).  In addition, keep your eyes out everywhere for coupons.  Stores, newspapers, magazines.  Ask friends and families for their extra inserts if they don’t use them—an amazing percentage of people just toss out their coupons with the trash…I shudder at the thought, don’t you? Also, take a few minutes a couple times a week and email the customer relations departments of your favorite brands. I’ve gotten oodles of MFQs this way.

The following is a brief run down on how I keep my coupon collection fresh and up to date.  This is just one of doing it, and I’m anxious to hear how the rest of you keep your collections up to date.  I find that waiting until the coupons expire and then pulling them doesn’t leave me with enough room in my binder for all the new coupons, so I pull early in order to keep my binder as fresh as possible.  How do you maintain your collection?

The BiWeekly CleanUp

• *Complete this cleanup before filing any new coupons for the week.*
• Flip through your binder or box and quickly scan each coupon for its expiration date.
• If any coupons are already expired, place them in a separate envelope to send to Overseas Military Families.
• Grab out 2 legal sized envelopes and label them “Maybe Yes” and “Probably Not.”
• Pull all coupons that will expire within the next two weeks.
• Sort these coupons into the two envelopes according to this formula:
  • “Maybe Yes” Envelope
    • If it’s a product that you know you will most likely buy regardless
    • If it’s a high value coupon or a coupon that will double to a high value and make an item free or nearly free at a store with generally low prices (meaning you won’t have to wait for the sale to make the item free or cheap).  Even if it’s something you won’t use, charities and/or friends and family love being blessed with free items.
    • If it’s a product that frequently goes on sale, ie, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, etc.
• “Probably Not” Envelope
  • Coupons that you are pretty sure you won’t use
  • Coupons for products that have just gone on sale and typically follow sales cycles, ie, food & groceries(remember the sales cycles…if it just went on sale, you’ll probably have to wait another few weeks or months)

I then place these two envelopes in my accordion file that I take with me into the stores.  This way, I have my binder full of fresh coupons, and my soon-to-be-outdated coupons are separated and ready to be sent to the Military Families overseas when the time comes, but, they are still with me in case I find any last minute deals using the coupons.

Here’s to hoping your hearts and coupon binders are full and bursting at the seams with joy and surprise !