Christmas in November

Tonight was the deployed spouse and family Thanksgiving dinner. We almost didn't go due to Alex not being able to get rid of this cold but it was a free dinner, a night off from doing dishes and we all needed to get out of the house. I wasn't sure how juggling 4 kids out for dinner would be, but since it's geared to families that are single at the moment, I'm sure people would understand. But help there was. It was amazing. There were volunteers galore and it was amazing to see all these families knowing they have a loved one not home for the holidays. I think it was the first time that it truly hit me that you won't be home. I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Maybe it's because it's still warm outside=), but it sure doesn't feel like the holiday season.

The dinner went great. Volunteers to help with the kids, carry their plates filled with delicious food, sit with them while I got up to wait in line for some gifts, take plates away when done, take kids to pick out their desserts, etc. It was almost hard to eat at times w/ so many different volunteers asking if we needed help with ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING. These volunteers were wonderful. I was wishing I could bring a few home. Even if you were home, help is always greatly appreciated.=) It was great. What an amazing night and we almost missed it. The part that was most amazing was this couple who donated toys for every single child. And it wasn't just one toy per child. Each child got a stuffed animal plus more. We don't NEED all this stuff, but it sure brought smiles to all those kids faces. There were also these wooden cars for all the kids. I had the 3 kids go to the table to get ONE. When we got home, I found out Izzy picked up two. I almost got mad at her til she told me one was for her daddy. They miss you so much. Izzy keeps praying you'll have a safe trip home. I still can't believe we've made it this far. We're getting down to that final countdown. We love you Glen.



Funny story: On the way home, I told the kids I wanted to get a picture of them w/ all their new fun stuff so we could show daddy what they got. Later in the conversation I told the kids of our idea of waiting to have Christmas til daddy got home (of course Santa comes on Christmas Eve so they wouldn't be empty handed), and Izzy said, "Let's just take a picture of all our fun stuff on Christmas." She's a bright one.=)