Christmas in Iraq

Decorating for Christmas
Christmas in Iraq was a unique experience.  We had several events to keep us in the holiday spirits.  All 3 Squadrons on Kalsu decorated their perspective headquarters.  Tiger Squadron put a sleigh on their roof pulled by Tigers... of course.  Muleskinner posted a cut out Hett on their roof with a trailer pulling the sleigh with gifts.    Regimental Headquarters managed to procure a "Christmas Tree" and decorate it for the holidays.   My tech and I continued to fine tune our decorations for our clinic.  We had a CHU decorating contest which helped to make us feel a little bit like we were back home.   Thank you to everyone who sent Christmas Decorations.  It really put us in the holiday spirit!!

Christmas Packages
I was overwhelmed with the amount of packages sent during the holidays.  A special thanks to Sharon Moynihan and St Ediths for the 20 plus boxes sent to my troop for Christmas.  Also thanks to Rebecca Creek Elementary for the great boxes they sent to Medical Troop.  A big shout out to Mrs. Hall's class for the great Christmas banner.  Thank to all the family and friends that sent individual boxes for the holidays.  Everything went to good use.  I put 2 little XMAS trees in my clinic, posted one outside my Chu and when inside my Chu.  The decorations were used for the clinic and my chu and fun holiday toys/food/candy/gifts were given out and enjoyed.

Christmas Festivities
My squadron played in a softball tournament XMAS Eve morning.  It was fun to play softball but it had been awhile.  I had one issue, I ended up hurting my back trying to stretch too far for a ball.  I was fine as long as I kept moving.  Once the games were over I went to eat lunch, the time sitting caused my back to spasm.  Lets just say the rest of the day I didn't do much and had to be medicated on pain killers and mm relaxants.  It took about a week for my  back to start feeling normal again.  Also on Christmas Eve my boyfriend and I attended "Midnight Mass" at the Chapel on Kalsu. The mass was held at...2100.  I felt very blessed to be able to celebrate a Christmas mass in Iraq when the rest of the country was suspending Christmas celebrations in fear of violence breaking out against Christians.  On Christmas day there was an XMAS 10k...but I opted to sleep in instead.  In the evening I got on skype with my boyfriend and we wished each others families Merry Christmas. To end our holidays we had a Christmas party on the 26th with the "Captain Mafia".  An eclectic group of CPTs (and an LT , MAJ or 2).  We range from health care providers, to Armor officers, to lawyers.  We had a white elephant exchange and played some holiday games.  My troop also had a holiday party.  We had a BBQ in which the firefighters cooked and ended with a Secret Santa gift exchange.  


Right now I'm on the back end of my R&R leave which will be the topic of my next post.

What medics do for fun at XMAS! Thanks Jamie for the Ginger Bread train.

Here's the outside of my CHU decorated for XMAS

The LIVE tree I was sent in the mail from my cousins in Austin!

One of our docs went all out with her decorations

Here is the Hett pulling the sleigh on top of our Squadron TOC.

Showing off the KU snuggy I got for Christmas from my boyfriend.

An example of the DFAC decorations for Christmas



Enjoying a Christmas meal...that looks like wine but it's really just sparkling grape juice



The CPT Mafia on Christmas Day

My neighbors CHU

Another XMAS tree!

Here are some of pictures of the inside of my CHU. The tree is from my grandmother, nativity from my parents, and stocking from CO-Workers at FT Hood.  Thanks everyone!

A family tradition every year.  Posting XMAS cards around the doorway.

Some XMAS notes I received and posted outside my office.

This is all the candy received from Rebecca Creek Elementary!

When u live in the desert Christmas trees are scarce.  This is a rod iron XMAS tree outside our Squadron TOC