{"id":452,"date":"2025-12-02T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=452"},"modified":"2025-12-02T07:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T13:41:12","slug":"a-soldiers-night-before-christmas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=452","title":{"rendered":"A Soldiers Night before Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember our Veterans and those deployed this Christmas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
\nin a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.
\nI had come down the chimney with presents to give
\nAnd to see just who in this home did live.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I looked all about a strange sight I did see,
\nNo tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
\nNo stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand,
\nOn the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.<\/p>\n

With medals and badges, awards of all kind
\nA sober thought came through my mind.
\nFor this house was different, so dark and dreary,
\nI knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.<\/p>\n

I heard stories about them, I had to see more
\nSo I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
\nAnd there he lay sleeping silent alone,
\nCurled up on the floor in his one bedroom home.<\/p>\n

His face so gentle, his room in such disorder,
\nNot how I pictured a United States soldier.
\nWas this the hero of whom I\u2019d just read?
\nCurled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His head was clean shaven, his weathered face tan,
\nI soon understood this was more than a man.
\nFor I realized the families that I saw that night
\nOwed their lives to these men who were willing to fight.<\/p>\n

Soon `round the world, the children would play,
\nAnd grownups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
\nThey all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
\nBecause of soldiers like this one lying here.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u00b4t help wonder how many lay alone
\nOn a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.
\nJust the very thought brought a tear to my eye,
\nI dropped to my knees and started to cry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
\n\u201cSanta don\u00b4t cry, this life is my choice;
\nI fight for freedom, I don\u00b4t ask for more,
\nmy life is my God, my country, my Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that he rolled over and drifted off into sleep,
\nI couldn\u00b4t control it, I continued to weep.
\nI watched him for hours, so silent and still,
\nI noticed he shivered from the cold night\u00b4s chill.<\/p>\n

So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
\nAnd I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.
\nAnd I put on his T-shirt of gray and black,
\nWith an eagle and an Army patch embroidered on back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
\nAnd for a shining moment, I was United States Army deep inside.
\nI didn\u00b4t want to leave him on that cold dark night,
\nThis guardian of honor so willing to fight.<\/p>\n

Then the soldier rolled over, whispered with a voice so clean and pure,
\n\u201cCarry on Santa, it\u2019s Christmas Day, all is secure.\u201d
\nOne look at my watch, and I knew he was right,
\nMerry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night!<\/p>\n

LTC Bruce Lovely, USAF wrote this poem for Christmas Eve 1993 while assigned to US Forces Korea<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember our Veterans and those deployed this Christmas.   Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, in a one bedroom house made of plaster & 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 […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,17,5,1,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-holidays","category-our-toops","category-seasons","category-uncategorized","category-wounded-warriors","category-4-id","category-8-id","category-17-id","category-5-id","category-1-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\/452","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=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":764,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}