Keep Christmas special for loved ones

A couple of years ago, I wrote about my ideas for keep­ing an absent spouse part of your Christmas or holiday cele­bration. Many of you respon­ded with your ideas, which I’d like to share as we start De­cember.

Karen, a reader from Pan­guitch, said, “Your articles on deployed spouses/family mem­bers in the service away this holiday season were wonderful. Because I never want to forget our heroes, I take every oppor­tunity to send them current events, news and boxes of goodies from home. I just sent a box on Monday of personal items, magazines, snacks and I try to include something to make them smile. My son-in­law, whose unit is from Hill Air Force Base, tells us he shares his goodies with all of his bud­dies.

“We’ve learned from past deployments that not every family has the means or time to send packages to the guys in the Middle East countries. Therefore, we try to include enough to share with all, noth­ing expensive, and they love hearing from and about the children. Phone cards and dis­posable cameras are good to send, giving them a chance to bring you into their world for a time. I’m constantly searching for items they may use. I have enough stuff for probably three more boxes by Christmas. Re­member, they’re not allowed to speak of their religion to the people in the countryside. Be­lieve me, though, they do pray and often.”

Another reader, Peggie, whose husband is on his second deployment for the Marines, wrote, “Buy a bag of Hershey Kisses; set a jar on the counter or table or whatever and every time your child misses Daddy, he can put a Kiss in the jar. Then when the jar is full, you can send it to Daddy or if he’s coming home in a few weeks, they can eat the Kisses together. Then before Daddy leaves again, have him write a bunch of tiny notes and put them in the jar. When your child misses Daddy, he can take out a note and read it and put a Kiss in.

“Also, if you can see the stars, pick out a big, bright star. Every night at the same time, have Daddy and your child look at the star to say good night.”

Jenn suggested, “Make paper chain links that count down the days until they are together again. Send your spouse copies of your child’s favorite stories and have him (or her) videotape himself reading favorite stories.”

Kim wrote, “Print a picture of him and tape it to the head of the chil­dren’s beds. When they go to bed, they can blow kisses at the picture.

Make a small calendar together of how many days it is until they get to see each other and each night, cross the day off. Put a picture of bal­loons and a cake in the space before he’s due home and tell your child that you can make a welcome-home cake or cookies for Daddy. The Daddy movie really helped my girls, espe­cially in the first few months. They loved seeing him read to them.

And I let them sleep with one of Daddy's tee shirts that smell like him.”

Amber, whose hus­band travels for several weeks at a time, told me, “We always write notes and hide them in Dad­dy's bag before he leaves ... the kids like to do this and then they like to be able to talk to Dad­dy about which ones he found. You could maybe even have Daddy hide notes around the house before he leaves next time to go to work and have the kids go on a hunt to find them when they are missing him really badly.”

Again, thanks for the great ideas! May help from above comfort all of you whose spouses, sons, daughters and friends are deployed or far away during this season of the year.