MARINES NEED YOUR HELP
Last year the Toys for Tots program distributed approximately 16.6 million toys and books, but this year due to the increase in demand from the poor economy and a decrease in toy donations it doesn’t look like the Marines will even make that mark.
So when you hit the mall and stores pick up a little something extra and drop it off in the Toys for Tots box or if you can’t find one of those take it to your closest Marine Recruiter and they will make sure it gets to the right place.
Or you can make a cash donation at the Toys for Tots website or by sending a check to:
Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
18251 Quantico Gateway Drive
Triangle, VA 22172
Make check payable to: Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
Remember, every kid deserves a present at Christmas.
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SOMETHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS
Christmas & War
During World War I, on and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action.
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ON THE HOME FRONT
I had planned on writing more tonight but I had a really bad headache and was in bed by around 6:30pm and woke up at 8:30 to take a shower and was back in bed again. I woke up to snow this morning and they are saying about 5 inches. I don’t have the blade on the plow yet so I guess it will be shoveled by hand tonight.
Other than the headache nothing exciting as gone on.
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“It’s not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number.”
— a Treasury Department spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com Sept. 23.
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36 Days Left Of Bush
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Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring
Freedom casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central
Command: 4818
