Christmas Cards For the Troops
This year, the second without my dad has been hard to get through, especially the holiday season. In fact, before yesterday we didn’t even have our Christmas tree up. But luckily, my younger girls took charge and after a girl’s night out with one of my best friends, I can proudly say that I have not one but two trees up in my house.
But back to my dad, this year I am missing him something fierce. But missing him hasn’t stopped me from continuing his legacy of giving back. There is one project that I have done for the past two years at Christmas. This project is very close to my heart. It is collecting and sending Christmas Cards to our troops who are away from their family this holiday season.
This year, I was lucky enough to work again with Hallmark on this amazing project. You see my dad was a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant who passed away 2 years ago this coming January 5 from the many illnesses caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam. He loved being a Marine and even until his death he was active in many veterans organizations. So making sure that our troops are shown appreciation is very important for me because of who my dad was.
Last year, I started this project with just my family and a few friends. But this year, I decided to see if some of the blogging organizations I belonged to would want to help out with this cause.
At our September meetup, Blogging with a Princess , I asked Sarah from Carolina Blogging, if we could do this at our next meet up and she said yes. Here is a picture of writing out cards at our #GratefulforBlogs (More about this meetup to come) meetup.
Hannah from The Hannah Hardy writing out cards.
And then I emailed Molly at Trifabb to see if we could write cards for the soldiers at Trifabb’s meetup at Amorino in Raleigh. ( Don’t worry that write up is coming as well.) Molly, being a daughter of a veteran who also died from complications due to Agent Orange exposure, agreed wholeheartedly. I was able to snap a few pictures there as well. Which I will use in some other stories.
I am happy to say that this past Friday, I dropped off over 300 cards for our soldiers at our local veterans organization to be passed onto our troops.
But this year, we did something different. This year, included in each card was a brief history of this little project and how it started, including a P.O. Box for them to reply. I will admit that I can’t wait to hear about the impact that even one card will make.
So if you have a moment today, write an extra card for a soldier, whether it is someone deployed or someone here at home- wishing them a Merry Christmas and thanking them for their service.
I totally can’t wait to start this project again next year. The goal next year has already been set at 1000. But I so want to blow that goal out of the water. So what are you doing this holiday season to give back?
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My husband was one of those troops years ago, so we not only send cards, we send care packages 🙂
What a wonderful way to continue your dad’s legacy and to give back. I am totally going to write to soldiers! What a great and simple way to give back!
This is a wonderful project! I love the idea behind it.
I loved participating in this! Thanks so much for organizing everything 🙂
That is awesome! I hope you share the responses you get.
What a beautiful idea! I’m sure the cards would bring special feeling and joy for the soldiers. Your action is an inspiration!
300 cards! That’s amazing. What a wonderful way to spread holiday cheer. Happy holidays 🙂
This is such a nice thing to do! I feel so bad for the troops that don’t get to spend the holidays with their own families. Hopefully your cards bring some smiles to their faces 🙂
What a lovey way to give back! Awesome project, and a great way to continue your dads legacy. 🙂
This is so awesome and a wonderful way to give back to those who serve our country. We often get caught up in our own business during the season that we forget about those who can’t be with their families!
I have friends who are in the troops so I know how appreciated these cards are when they are so far from home! Thanks for all you do!
What a great cause- I am sure the troops would so appreciate this when they are far from home!
Such a great idea to let our service men and women know we are thinking of them. I want to get my kids to mail some cards too.
Aw it is great that you honour your father’s memory and the troops legacy. I miss getting cards.
I went searching all over the place for places to do this with. We homeschool and wanted to do this as part of our November, but couldn’t find any info that was relevant to now. Thanks for the info!
what a great project. I can’t wait to see what kind of replies you will get back
This is such a nice idea. When I was a teacher, we had the kids in our class help make cards for the Troops and it was eye opening to everyone to see that they can do something small and still make a huge difference.
This is such a wonderful, selfless project! You should be very proud of yourself 🙂
I’m glad you got to take part in a project so special to you and helpful to others! Merry Christmas!
What a work of love! The personal touch of a hand-written note will be a blessing to many I’m sure!
This is truly amazing and filled my heart with joy to read about so many good people out there doing such great things. What a great cause!
This is amazing. What an awesome initiative. So many men in my family are on active duty so I know how they feel. Getting these cards but be SO incredible. Thanks for doing this.
This is so great! And I also think it would be great to get the kids involved so they can learn about our troops serving overseas and about self-sacrifice.
This is great! My stepdad is a veteran and is still involved in veterans organizations, but we’ve never written holiday cards. This is such a great idea though 🙂
This is so sweet and a wonderful idea! They do great things for us everyday and we should be able to give them a little something over the holiday season. I love this!
I always donate at my local grocery store. I do it both at the Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Any little bit helps. This year I’m also donating to the The Compassionate Collective to help those in Aleppo.
As a Military Spouse I definitely know how important and meaningful a simple gesture like this can be in a soldier’s life. Thank you so much for initiating this and helping to bring words of encouragement to soldiers this holiday season.
What a great thing to do for the troops! I love this idea. Bless you for thinking of him.
My husband just retired from the Navy and I can tell you this was so appreciated when he was deployed! What a special act of kindness for the holidays!
This is so sweet! I love that you take the time to do that.
This is an awesome! I know the troops will appreciate each one of those Christmas cards
As a USAF Veteran, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your kindness and commitment to the troops. They will love you, and this is a great way to give back! Hugs…RO
This is great! I know they will appreciate the cards, and you will brighten their day!
What a great idea, Melissa! Sending you lots of warm wishes this season! This is such a wonderful season – but can be so bittersweet when we’re missing loved ones!
This is such a wonderful project, and the involvement from the blogging community is amazing! I hope you get responses back from the letters!
Are you doing more cards for troops this year? Am guessing so! 🙂
Yes I am!! It is already in the works and this time it will be more personal because one of our best friends is deployed at the moment.
this is one of my favorite things you do every year. love you and love your heart!
And this year is going to make even it more special because the soldiers that we are sending to them this year. One of the guys in the squadron all three girls were in their wedding when the girls were little and he has always had a special place in Gracie’s heart – she cried when Kaci married her Marc.