A Christmas in the USA

I am the oldest in my family, which means that growing up I was a trailblazer. I accomplished some good things and grew in areas that my brothers and sister would later follow. I am pretty sure, however, that my dad is most proud of me for one thing: my ability to sit down and enjoy a football game. Obviously it would be frustrating for an avid football fan such as my dad to have kids that don't share in his football appreciation. But my dad has told me on many occasions that is precisely his situation: kids for the most part who are apathetic to football. This may seem strange, but the ability to like watching football is something that my dad never fails to praise me on.

On that note, I was watching the last part of the Army v. Navy game last night. Navy, coming as little surprise, won the game. Following the post-game celebrations, Navy's coach was interviewed about what this game meant to him. He actually became really emotional at that point. He was proud of the players for both schools. He added that many of them would be sent to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight in wars and risk their lives. He downplayed his victory that day as "only a football game." Then the interview concluded. It was a sobering response, and a topic that I probably don't think enough about! We have such brave men and women who are protecting our country. They are amazing and I hope that they feel it.

This Christmas season, many thousands of troops are overseas and unable to spend time with their family and friends. I ran across a great idea that Xerox is sponsoring. It's called LetsSayThanks.com. You create a card on this website and Xerox will actually print out and send the card to someone in the armed forces. Making the card can literally take 10 seconds and will most likely lift someone's spirits to know that the sacrifices they are going through are not going unnoticed.

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!