A Baghdad Christmas

At my desk with my "Tree in a Box."


Merry Christmas from Camp Victory. We did what everyone else around here does on Christmas . . . we worked. We did take some time though to do a Secret Santa gift exchange followed by a jolly and rather contentious white elephant gift exchange wherein, after seeing the quality of the first few gifts, I just chose the same one I contributed. After seeing the rest of the gifts, my initial instinct was confirmed. Good call on my part.

Our little tree on Christmas Eve . . . I was so excited for Santa to come I almost couldn't sleep. Well actually, I was on watch that night so in fact I really couldn't sleep. We have someone on watch each night in the building to make sure if the phone rings someone picks it up and doesn't allow the telemarketer to change our long distance service unless it is a REALLY good deal. Seriously, I don't know anyone who has actually had the phone ring . . .

The tree was a care package to a fellow who has since returned home (or "redeployed" as we might say in the military) but using Contingency Expeditionary Wartime Care Package Guidelines (CEWCPG) developed when this package arrived by, well, our boss the Colonel, we declared the tree unfit to return to the states and set it up so we could keep an eye on it. Luckily for me, the nieces had sent along two tree ornaments which were among the first to be hung.



Contary to the conventional wisdom of many, it is not hot all year round in Iraq. Christmas morning was a chilly 40 degrees. A 90 degree difference to the temperature here in July and August.

The stockings were hung on the cubicle with care, in the hopes that no rockets would fall near.

Annie Lesher is a lovely woman no one in the office has ever met. She works as a civilian for Defense Logistics Agency back in the states and has taken it upon herself to ensure that everyone assigned to DLA in Iraq (about 60 of us throughout the country) gets at least one care package a month. She is the one who made the stockings for us all. She is immensely generous, especially given that she has never spoken to, much less met, any of us.

My Tree in a Box sat above my desk along with other important stuff, like the burn box and the college bowl game schedule.