On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me..

Twas the night before christmas in USA


Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the skies,
Air defenses were up, with electronic eyes.
Combat pilots were nestled in ready-room beds,
As enemy silhouettes danced in their heads.

Every jet on the apron, each SAM in its tube,
was triply redundant, linked to the Blue Cube.
ELINT and AWACS gave coverage so dense
that nothing that flew could slip through our defense.
When out of the klaxon arose such a clatter
I dashed to the screen to see what was the matter;
I increased the gain and then, quick as a flash,
Fine adjusted the filters to damp out the hash.

And there found the source of the warning we'd heeded
an incoming blip, by eight escorts preceded.
"Alert status red!" went the word down the wire,
As we gave every system the codes that meant "FIRE!"

On Aegis! Up Patriot, Phalanx and Hawk,
And scramble our fighters--let's send the whole flock.
Launch decoys and missiles, use chaff by the yard!
Get the kitchen sink up! Call the National Guard!

They turned toward the target, moved toward it, converged.
Till the tracks on the radar all finally merged,
And the sky was lit up with a demonic light,
As the foe met his fate in the high arctic night.

So we sent out some reconnaissance to look for debris,
Yet all that they found, both on land and on sea
Were some toys, a red hat, a charred left leather boot,
Broken sleigh bells, white hair, and a deer's parachute.

Now it isn't quite Christmas, with Saint Nick shot down.
There are unhappy kids in each village and town.
For the Spirit of Christmas can't hope to evade
All the web of defenses we've carefully made.

But a crash program's on: Working hard, night and day,
All the elves are constructing a radar-proof sleigh.
So let's wait for next Christmas, in cheer and in health,
For the future has hope: Santa's coming by stealth!



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I can't quite put my finger on how I'm feeling about this Christmas. I am excited to see the kids open their presents, but the whole day, I'll be thinking "I guess this is it" Shortly after Christmas, Bill is off to go comply with President Obama's orders. It's kind of put a damper on the Holiday cheer. I'm trying to get excited about the Holiday itself but this stupid snow is making it difficult to get to the store to get Bill's presents. I have no idea what to get him either.

What do you give someone who is about to go downrange? He won't be able to enjoy much of what I give him, but I have no idea what *to* give him. I want to get him an electric blanket, but aside from that.. I have no idea what else to get. I don't think he's getting me anything at all but the pressure to make his last couple of days wonderful is a lot of pressure.

Ahhhh!!

I really love Thanksgiving because it marks the beginning of the Christmas season, but this year.. this year is not very exicting. Money is an issue, my husband is leaving soon, and to top it off.. I'm still fighting off pneumonia.

This *isn't* the type of Christmas I had hoped for. Hopefully next year, I will have my health, we'll have some money to shop for each other, and he won't be leaving anywhere or gone during the Holidays.

That's my Christmas wish anyway.