Santa Claus is Not in Iraq

[ClutterbusterNY]

This is one of my favorites.

Santa Claus Is Not In Iraq


No white Christmas, but it will be the coldest time of the year
at about 30 degrees.
No last minute run to Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve,
but a long line for the phones on Christmas morning
to get a hold of loved ones.
Grandma won't make Christmas Dinner
but it will be better food than what we will eat the
rest of the week.
We will not be celebrating with relatives we love,
but will be celebrating with our friends and comrades
from the past 7 months.
We will joke among ourselves
"I wonder if Santa's Insurance will let him land here?"
This is what Christmas day will be like for us in Iraq.
On Christmas day we will call home, eat, do laundry,
and spend some extra time in bed.
In fact, without TV, radio, and retail stores,
the Christmas rush won't hit us.
We are continuing with our jobs,
driving around Central Iraq building
whatever the military needs,
we are not going through stores,
we are everywhere you turn,
you are reminded of your roll as Santa Claus.
We are listening to the radio,
but it is the voice of the driver behind us
and not another Christmas song playing
for the hundredth time.
In fact the only reminder of Christmas
is the cards and packages from home,
that were sent weeks in advance to get here on time.
In Iraq, you learn Christmas is not about gifts,
as the retail world would like all you soon to be
Santa Claus to believe. It is not about holiday movies
that make you feel good.
Christmas to us, has become much more.
Everyday, we run down the fine line of life and death.
Here we are reminded daily that in the world
there is not always a 'happy ending'
like on Christmas TV specials.
But Christmas is about pausing to remember
that we do have a family at home,
and we do have a reason for what we do.
But Christmas is about something bigger than all of us,
it is even bigger than this war we fight.
Christmas is about the birth of the Prince of Peace.
We are only about the distance of Kansas City to New York
from a small stable where Christmas began.
We daily put our lives in the hands of the one
born that night and Christmas is the day
we will stop and remember that glorious event.
Santa Claus may not be here with his "elf"
Wal-Mart, but the Prince of Peace is,
and that is what you remember when you celebrate
Christmas in Iraq.
So as you celebrate Christmas in the United States
this year listen to the carols you sing for the
true meaning of Christmas.
It's there, we have heard it. But we don't have the
noise of the Santa Claus that never stops singing,
spend, spend, spend. But we do have a
hymnal with "Joy to the World".

Merry Christmas from Spc. Brad Isaac and Sgt. Lucas Green,
remember to pray for us and all the soldiers over here.
For prayer is what will bring us home for next Christmas.