Just breathe. You will never live this moment again.

My family and I used to spend a lot of time transforming our home into a little winter wonderland. My dad became a master over the years at decorating outside, complete with a mini-manger scene and the occasional penguins skating on a pond of Plexiglas. He would recruit any one of us to help in the transformation outdoors. However, it was the decorating inside of our home that always held my attention.

We’d always pull down huge totes full of Christmas supplies. My earliest memories of Christmas involve my parents pulling out each of ornaments, calling our name so we could claim our little ornaments to hang on the tree. We always ooh and ahhed over the same ones. The Santa Clause head or the ornament my dad made when he was a wee little fella. I remember heeding my mom’s instructions to ‘put the ugly ones’ on the back of the tree, and being slightly offended when the ugly ornament in question was a gobble of sparkle and glue that I had made what feels like ages ago. After delicately positioning each ornament into its new home, we would gather around and sing Silent Night for a video camera, swaying as we sang a bit off key.

In the last couple of years, we’ve stopped putting everything up, running out of room to hang jingle bells and shelves to put lopsided snowmen on that Josh had created in 4th grade. As Darcie and Matt moved out of the house, the whole tradition of everything kind of started to dwindle. Our lives started picking up and it started being a struggle to find a time that didn’t conflict with everyone’s schedules. It’s hard to slow down time for a growing family of 6. And that’s ok, because after all, it’s not about the twinkling bulbs, the lopsided Santas or even the ornaments. It’s about what’s left when all of that is packaged away again until next year.

I look around at the cubicles in my office, each trying to recreate a semblance of home. If I pop my head over my cubicle block, I see a sea of tinsel, multicolored lights and stockings. It’s quite a tribute to the holiday spirit. Most, if not all, of the supplies came from around the United States as people took the time to slow down and think of someone other than themselves, a great foundation of holiday spirit. And while decorating our cubicles doesn’t completely emulate those memories we have of home, it is awfully nice to try and get close.

Unfortunately, for many soldiers, Christmas is just another day of work. It’s not as if it’s not recognized that it is a holiday, but it’s just hard to celebrate when there is still a job that needs to be done. Some sections have afforded their soldiers a partial day off, but the mission continues to drive on in their absence. And while as kids (even maybe as adults), the most exciting thing was to wake up and find that Santa Clause had come and gone and left in his wake a slew of presents. For most here, the most exciting thing will be marking another day off of their calendars. It’s another day done, and only a handful more to go.

That’s not to say that I still won’t cling to a bit of normalcy… Tonight I have grand plans of attending Christmas Mass at the chapel here on post. And tomorrow I’ll be spending Christmas Day dinner with my family away from family. It’s not easy being away for the holidays, but forming a little family like ours here in Iraq definitely makes it a bit easier.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Take the time to slow down for a moment and immerse yourself in the holiday spirit. This kind of reminds me of a quote my mom and dad have on their bedroom wall at the cabin “Just breathe. You will never live this moment again.”

Momma I'm a star

As most of you know, last week my dad and I experienced our 15 minutes of fame. Literally, I think it all added up to about 15 minutes. For those of you who don’t know, last week as part of our Thanksgiving celebration, 4 different news stations interviewed us. Our schedule looked something like this:

9:00 AM ET --> The Crotteaus with MSNBC
9:30 AM ET --> The Crotteaus with CNN
11:15 Am ET --> The Crotteaus with KMSP-TV in Minneapolis
11:30 AM ET --> The Crotteaus with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis

I think with the MSNBC one, they called my mom up. Which was so wonderful. My dad and I try to emphasize how important the family is in this whole adventure, because so rarely are they included in this side of things. Too often, the soldiers get all the glory and the family is kind of hidden in the shadows. It was so nice for my mom to get in on the action for once.

In between our first two interviews, we had Thanksgiving dinner. Our little family away from our families joined us. If I had to spend a holiday away from you guys, I’m glad that I had them to spend it with and they had us.

The company was great, and the food wasn’t too shabby either. Granted, I steared clear of the “suspicious” looking food… you know. The stuff that looks like it was capable of having camel parts lurking within, like the stuffing. The turkey was actually pretty decent. I haven’t had anything but chicken since I’ve gotten here, so it was a pleasant surprise. That’s not to say that I’m going to start stepping out of my little chicken coup, if you will. Because I’m still adamanant that those burgers they say are made of “beef” are actually made of camel. I just can’t find anyone to verify that.

Anyways, if you guys weren’t able to catch us on T.V. and you wanted to, my friend Deidre found the links and sent them to me:

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=73955

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=73965

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=73966

http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=73952

I think I should add a disclaimer and let you know that it was very hard to hear. That should explain a lot of the weird faces I think…

I hope that you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Two more holidays (Christmas and New Years) and my dad and I will be home!!!

I. CANNOT. WAIT.

<3 Jacki