I'll Be Home For Christmas.....

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

It is that time of year. A time for family and friends to get together, sing Christmas carols, drink egg nog, and try not to eat too many Christmas cookies or else your New Year’s resolution will be to drop the 15 pounds you gained during the holidays, again. I am so looking forward to being home for the holidays. Because it will go by so fast, I will have to enjoy every minute I have. Sleep will be an "option" during my leave I think.

I spoke with Sarah last night and she told me that she has all of the presents wrapped up and ready to go. Now she can relax and listen to her Christmas music and pet the cats, waiting for me to get home. I can't wait see her and her smiling face greet me at the airport and say..........”I'm happy your home because the cat boxes need cleaning and we need to run some errands.” Just kidding Sarah, I know you wouldn't say that, or would you??????

Well this week we moved out of the hanger and into a shed outside of it because they are remodeling the hanger for a month. They are redoing the electrical so the fire hazards are less, if you know what I mean. They are also repainting it so that we can be at war and look good doing it. It will have better lighting for working at night and they are spraying it with "New Hanger Smell" so that we won’t know it is our old hanger. Anyway, we had to move everything out of it so that was a task in itself. It took a couple of days, but now we are settled into our temporary office and back to work. I'm just glad I'm going on leave so I won’t be around much to work outside instead of the hanger. It does get chilly here at night but not like back home.

That’s it, no more news. My life is pretty dull wouldn’t you say? Eat, sleep, and work, every day. Good thing there is poker night tonight……YEA! I need some Mexico money!!!

Just to let you know, this will be my last post for a few weeks till I return to Iraq. Wish me safe travels and I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Take care.

Dan

Feliz Navidad!!

Hola,

I'm brushing up in my Spanish for my trip....how am I doing? Well, to tell you the truth I only know how to say hello, where's the bathroom, and to order beer. That’s all I need to know. I am so looking forward to the trip that Sarah and I am taking. It will be nice to be a civilian again for a little bit. I won’t have to shower in the same place as 10 other guys. I won’t be eating my meals with a weapon by my side. Just little things like that.

I hope all of you have finished your Christmas shopping (or Hanukah or Kwanza). I had mine done a while ago as most of you loyal BLOG followers know. Now I get to just enjoy the season and all of the nice things about it. Thanks to the Shea Family, I now have a 12" tree and a stocking in my room. Sarah also sent me a Santa pillow that you see in the picture. Now all I need is snow and I'll get some of that when I get home on leave.

This week in Iraq has been uneventful which is good when you are in a war zone. I did treat myself to a new DVD, The third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I saw it in the theaters and I liked it so I bought it. Jesse also is back from his leave. It was nice to have the room all to myself for 3 weeks but it is nice to have a buddy around to go and do things with. Like today we are going to the East side for dinner at the Turkish Cafe that is over there. There gyros are very good and I'm in the mood for one tonight. Jesse and I have a lot in common so it makes it easy to get along and hang out. Other than that, I wear ACU's every day, carry my weapon every day, and go to work every day........very exciting!!

Take care everyone and have a Happy Holidays,

Dan

P.S.) I almost forgot to say thank you for all of the care packages and letters I have received this week. It is like Christmas every time the mail person comes around and hands out the mail.

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

HO! HO! HO! Everyone

I am starting to get in to the Christmas spirit. I went and bought some Christmas music, a Santa hat (as you can see), and finished my shopping this week. Maybe I'm so in to the spirit because I'll be home soon, but whatever it is I do love this time of year. My friend Rick set up this picture and I thought it was a fun idea to do. To put us in the mood for the picture I was playing Jingle Bells and singing along. Be thankful that you can't hear my singing on this BLOG because it would put you out of the spirit........LOL. We had so much fun setting this up that other people wanted to take their picture with the machine gun. I felt like I was the photo guy at the mall with Santa, It was fun.

It rained here a couple of days ago. It was the kind of rain that had BIG drops but it didn't come down hard. I took a picture if it, so look down below to see what I am talking about. The next morning it smelled so nice outside. The rain knocked down all of the dust, dirt, and pollutants in the air so it smelled so nice out. It was the first time it rained here and it was a nice break from sunny all of the time. At the same time back home they got 4 to 6 inches of snow. Now I wish I was there for that. I always like the first snowfall of the year. It is so clean and the way it hangs on the trees is so pretty. Sarah was telling me all about it and I started to get those pictures in my head. I can't wait to get home on leave and see it with my own eyes. Only 2 weeks left for that to happen.......WooHoo!!!!

Well, today is my day off so I am going to go get a haircut and get a pedicure. Now I know what you are thinking, Dan's at war and he can't get a pedicure???? First off it's ok for a guy to get a pedicure, and second it is not like it is an Avada salon or something. It's a trailer by the PX that's a beauty salon for the girls on post but more guys go than girls. Go figure, there’s like 10 times more guys here than girls. It is so nice, they rub your feet while they do it. After wearing combat boots all day, every day it is a nice treat to give yourself.

As a reminder, I will not be here for Christmas so if you are planning on sending items to me either do it now or after Christmas. I do want to thank everyone that has sent items already. I share everything with my platoon so the guys that don't get much mail can have things also. You all are so nice and I can't thank you enough for your support. Without your support I couldn't do what I do over here.

I have rambled on enough so I will say chow for now. Have a great holiday season and I'll talk to you all next week.

Dan