AMC

Philip's first squadron was a part of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) @ RAF Mildenhall.  The ops tempo and deployment cycles of logisticians when he commissioned was high.   The joke was AMC actually meant "Another Missed Christmas."

I have nothing to complain about when it comes to deployments.  For real.  We have Army friends who between Iraq and Afghanistan have clocked crazy numbers like >50 months apart, 12-18 months at a time, during a very short span of time.  This is why I really struggle to bite my tongue and not roll my eyes when people complain about 3-6 month taskings or trips to places that are actually not crazy dangerous.    I'm horrible, I know.

While this was our second Christmas apart in three years, it was one that was not fraught with sadness or self-pity.  Christmas a huge deal to me.  It was a really big thing growing up.  We always did big crazy family Christmas.  Growing up, tradition was both exciting and grounding for me.  Marriage, moving overseas, military --- these things have changed Christmas and tradition.  But what remains constant is that the power of the experience each year isn't about the tree, the food, the candlelight services.  It's not even about family.  It's about Christ's humble beginning.  It's about the story of a frightened but faithful teenage girl and a fiancee whose world was rocked when he learned his betroathed was going to be giving birth to a child that wasn't his.  It's about hope.  It's about the reason that I get to live every day with full security in salvation.  It's about grace.

And because of that.  It doesn't matter where in the world I am.  Or my parents are.  Or my brother is.  Or my husband is.  Christmas sparkles with radiance because of the message and story.  Nothing can take that away.

Approaching 12/25 in 2015 felt easier than in did in 2013.  I was thankful that instead of being completely riddled by sadness about being half a world away from Philip, I was able to really look forward to some R&R and time with my family.

The week before I left for Minneapolis I was able to clock some time with this precious girl and her parents while she was in town with the Air Force Academy girls b-ball team.  I was deeply thankful for some face time with someone who could connect on a level far deeper than first world problems.  I was needing the visit precisely when it came.

 
Christmas 2015 was unique.  It was the first Only Child Christmas I had since 1988 as it was my brother and sister in law's year to be w/ her family in Idaho.

I few into MSP on the 23rd and snuck out on the 27th just as heavy snow was starting to blanket the Minnesota ground (and wings of my plane).  I was thankful for time with my parents, cousins, and grandparents.   There was much laughter, card playing, and delicious food.  There was Charlie Brown Christmas on Christmas Eve.  There was the incredible gift of being able to hear Philip's voice and see his face on FaceTime on Christmas morning.  I was surrounded by people, reminders, and the unmistakable and intangible experience of knowing in a very deep place loved which, together, reminded me that It's a Wonderful Life.