{"id":299,"date":"2022-12-13T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T14:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=299"},"modified":"2022-12-13T08:41:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T14:41:00","slug":"a-soldiers-night-before-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=299","title":{"rendered":"A Soldiers Night Before Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-300\" src=\"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UZKKtD5-1024x602.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"291\" srcset=\"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UZKKtD5-1024x602.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UZKKtD5-300x176.jpg 300w, http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UZKKtD5-768x452.jpg 768w, http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UZKKtD5.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,<br \/>\nIn a one bedroom house made of plaster &amp; stone.<br \/>\nI had come down the chimney with presents to give<br \/>\nAnd to see just who in this home did live.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I looked all about a strange sight I did see,<br \/>\nNo tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.<br \/>\nNo stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand,<br \/>\nOn the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">With medals and badges, awards of all kind<br \/>\nA sober thought came through my mind.<br \/>\nFor this house was different, so dark and dreary,<br \/>\nI knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I heard stories about them, I had to see more<br \/>\nSo I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.<br \/>\nAnd there he lay sleeping silent alone,<br \/>\nCurled up on the floor in his one bedroom home.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">His face so gentle, his room in such disorder,<br \/>\nNot how I pictured a United States soldier.<br \/>\nWas this the hero of whom I\u2019d just read?<br \/>\nCurled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">His head was clean shaven, his weathered face tan,<br \/>\nI soon understood this was more than a man.<br \/>\nFor I realized the families that I saw that night<br \/>\nOwed their lives to these men who were willing to fight.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Soon `round the world, the children would play,<br \/>\nAnd grownups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.<br \/>\nThey all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,<br \/>\nBecause of soldiers like this one lying here.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I couldn\u00b4t help wonder how many lay alone<br \/>\nOn a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.<br \/>\nJust the very thought brought a tear to my eye,<br \/>\nI dropped to my knees and started to cry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,<br \/>\n\u201cSanta don\u00b4t cry, this life is my choice;<br \/>\nI fight for freedom, I don\u00b4t ask for more,<br \/>\nmy life is my God, my country, my Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">With that he rolled over and drifted off into sleep,<br \/>\nI couldn\u00b4t control it, I continued to weep.<br \/>\nI watched him for hours, so silent and still,<br \/>\nI noticed he shivered from the cold night\u00b4s chill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,<br \/>\nAnd I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.<br \/>\nAnd I put on his T-shirt of gray and black,<br \/>\nWith an eagle and an Army patch embroidered on back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,<br \/>\nAnd for a shining moment, I was United States Army deep inside.<br \/>\nI didn\u00b4t want to leave him on that cold dark night,<br \/>\nThis guardian of honor so willing to fight.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Then the soldier rolled over, whispered with a voice so clean and pure,<br \/>\n\u201cCarry on Santa, it\u2019s Christmas Day, all is secure.\u201d<br \/>\nOne look at my watch, and I knew he was right,<br \/>\nMerry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night!<\/p>\n<h4>Written by LTC Bruce Lovely, USAF 1993<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, In a one bedroom house made of plaster &amp; stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give And to see just who in this home did live. I looked all about a strange sight I did see, No tinsel, no presents, not even <a href='http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=299' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,17,7,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-holidays","category-our-toops","category-winter","category-wounded-warriors","category-4-id","category-8-id","category-17-id","category-7-id","category-18-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}