When I was little one of the things I enjoyed were all the cards that my parents and my grandparents received in the mail. My parents kept theirs in a basket and it was such a treat to go through that basket and see who all these holiday wishes were from. My grandmother was the school nurse and she'd get cards from her former students from all over the place. I remember a couple of her former students joined the service and their cards came from exotic places like Japan, Germany, Thailand and Hawaii. It was great fun going through her basket. My dad was in the Marine Corps when I was a baby and we'd always get cards from his service buddies and their families. That was exciting too because some of them traveled and landed in some pretty cool places too.
I remember how my mom would take the time to carefully pick out our cards and address them. She'd go to the post office and purchase the holiday stamps and send them off shortly after Thanksgiving. When I first lived on my own, that was a tradition I started myself. I sent cards to my friends but also to some of my older relatives that we had visited from time to time when I was younger. There was one particular couple that I held dear to my heart. Aunt Onie and Uncle Luther. They were darling people and I sent them Merry Christmas cards until they passed away. They loved it. I also struck up a correspondence with one of my grandmother's former student's Raymond Ng who joined the Navy. He was stationed in Japan for a while and it was so fun sending him letters on Air Mail stationery. What Raymond appreciated more than anything were his Christmas cards. He was far from home at the holidays and he loved getting mail.
So today I was scrolling through Face Book and found a post that talked about "Holiday Cards for Heroes." I thought what a great idea! You can brighten a service person's holiday for 44 cents. How awesome is that?! I am a mother, and I know there are mothers out there that will be missing their soldier children this Christmas and Chanukkah. This is an easy way to spread some holiday cheer and know that it would mean the world to someone so far away from home. Tonight Kaysie and I will be writing some Christmas and Chanukkah cards to our service men and women.
Here's the address: The cards need to be postmarked NO LATER than December 10th.
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
As you are addressing your holiday cards this year, write a little note inside one or two and send it to someone who is far away from their loved ones serving our great country. Cheers!
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