13

Special Holiday Edition 2016

BlueRibbonNews.com

One Christmas several years ago, we were 
broke. I don’t mean the we-aren’t-going-to-
have-as-big-of-Christmas-broke, I mean the 
complete lack of any money. The no presents, 
no Santa, no-Christmas-kind-of-broke.  I 
don’t remember the reason whether it was a 
string of medical bills or a load of untimely 
repairs; all I remember is how helpless and 
low I felt as I had worked and scraped and 
pinched every penny I could, to only end up 
in the same Sisyphean place.  We needed a 
Christmas miracle.

A friend from church approached me wanting 
to talk. Behind closed doors he shared how 
each year his family became Santa for 
someone and he felt like my family could 
use a hand. Being too embarrassed, I had 
told nobody of our plight, but what was I 
to do with the offer? Refuse? Save face 
for the sake of pride?
 
Long story short, our boys woke up on Christmas morning to 
huge velvet sacks on the den floor. Tanks, planes, and soldiers 
poured out of the top. The boys had a military Christmas, gifts 
of traditional heroes, and Angie and I wept experiencing both 
the magic of Santa and the true meaning of Christmas.

This year we’ll have presents; it won’t be massive, but we’ll 
have them, and it will once again have a military theme. Yet 
this time, instead of plastic soldiers with their little rifles, 

mine-sweepers, and artillery, we will have a real live U.S. 
Marine around the tree. Back in September my middle son 
left for Parris Island, South Carolina, as a recruit for the 
United States Marine Corps. Since then, our only contact has 
been through old-fashioned letter writing in which somebody 
in our household has addressed an envelope every week. 
Each day the mail delivery is asked about, and periodically 
a letter shows with the famous picture of the flag raising at 
Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in the bottom left corner. We 

open it and read about training, drill, and 
the constant demands of the DI’s. Between 
that and reports from other’s letters we have 
pieced together that he’s excelling, having 
passed his shooting tests, physical endurance 
tests, and the dreaded gas chamber. As long 
as he makes it through the final 54 hours of 
grueling battle maneuvers and endurance 
called the Crucible, he will graduate about 
a week before Christmas Day. We have 
already planned our travel and before we 
know it, we’ll be standing before the parade 
deck to watch our boy in the uniform that 
embodies the Marine Corps values of honor, 
commitment, and courage.

Then we’ll bring him back to Memphis, to 
the family Christmas Eve party that is packed 
with aunts, uncles, cousins, and all their 
children. We’ll spend Christmas Day feasting 
with more family, and we’ll all be together 
again. Presents will just be an extra blessing, 

and Angie and I will once again experience what we felt so 
long ago when Santa showed with a sack of soldiers, only 
ours will be a Marine. 

By Scott Gill of Rockwall, teacher, coach and author of 
Goliath Catfish. Follow Scott’s blog at puptentpapa.blogspot.
com and read his “Front Porch Ramblings”  
at BlueRibbonNews.com.

The Rockwall community joined millions across the nation in recognizing our military veterans with several honorary events on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Patriot 

PAWS welcomed guest speaker Congressman John Ratcliffe as it celebrated five veterans and their service dogs during its Graduation Day Ceremony. The 

Fulton School put on a special program for veterans where 3rd and 4th graders gave a history of Veterans Day complete with video tributes, song, and carnations 

presented by the students for veterans in attendance. Rounding out the day’s events recognizing our military heroes was the Rockwall County Veterans Day 

Celebration held at the Performing Arts Center at Utley Middle School. A group of local military veterans joined Rockwall residents in enjoying performances 

by the Rockwall High School Orchestra and the Rockwall Children’s Chorus, along with keynote speaker Commander Scott Sanders, U.S. Navy (Ret). 

Honoring

Our

Veterans