Home for Christmas

One Christmas, some 15 to 20 years ago, I made each one of the boys a "raggedy" soldier and put them in their stockings. They were treasured for a while and sat around on their beds for a few years. Then, as the boys got older, the soldiers got tucked away with the stuffed animals and eventually disappeared into storage boxes and bags. When we were clearing out Rick's room this fall, I found his soldier up on a shelf. I couldn't help but smile as I picked him up and gently wiped the dust from his uniform. When I made those soldiers, I never imagined that two of my boys would actually be wearing that uniform one day. I sat him on the dresser for a few weeks, and when we put up the Christmas tree, it just seemed appropriate to put him underneath it. But, one just wasn't enough, I have two boys missing. So I went into the boys room, also known as the black hole...the room that Seth and Kevin shared...and dug around in one of the storage bags full of stuffed animals until I found another soldier. I put him next to his brother-in-arms beneath the tree where they tirelessly guard the presents. One should actually be in ACUs and desert boots instead of BDUs, and the other shouldn't be wearing a beret (neither should have a camo beret), but that's not what's important. The presence of these two raggedy soldiers under my tree makes me smile and think of Kevin and Seth...that's the important thing. And in a way, it brings them both home for Christmas.