Do you have a deployed service member on your Christmas list? There won’t be a “ho-hum” holiday for your service member with these holiday care package ideas. I’ve captured the spirit of the season through items that relate to the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the holidays. Add your own touches for a surefire way to make your service member’s spirit bright!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Santa hat
Stuffed reindeer
Christmas movie
Kid’s craft paper snowflakes
Fake snow
Fake tree
Lights
Handmade ornaments
String popcorn and cranberries
Tiny wrapped packages (use gum, mints, or small items to go under the tree)
Advent calendar
Picture book (include pictures from past holiday gatherings)
Small wrapped items to the theme of the “Twelve Days of Christmas”
A box of holiday cards stamped and addressed to the soldier’s family
Mistletoe

Just hear those sleigh bells ringaling

CD of you (and your children) singing carols
CD of holiday music
Jingle bells

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

Holiday scented candle (pine, cinnamon, baking)
Holiday scented oil
Pinecones (scented)

Now bring us some figgy pudding

Fresh baked cookies
Eggnog
SPAM (Christmas “ham”)
Sausage and cheese
Holiday Ritz crackers
Mixed nuts (in shell) with a nut cracker
Candy canes
Holiday boxed chocolates
Advent calendar
Holiday coffee and shelf-stable creamer
Hot cocoa or cider
Fruitcake

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams

Even though your service member is far from home and needs pampering, you and your children need something to feel connected to him or her, too. Craft a tradition for your family: buy an ornament each year, write a letter to Santa Claus, hang a special stocking, or read a special story, and make sure you do it regardless of anyone’s location. Make every effort to share this tradition across the miles by videotaping, calling, or even having your service member available via webcam to participate.

Here comes Santa Claus

Keep in mind special ways to create the perfect “Holiday Gift Delivery System” or “HGDS,” as Bob Gilead from www.CamoSock.com calls it. Stop by his site and pick up a perfect HGDS in the shape of a stocking made from the fabric of your service member’s branch. Be creative and find interesting things online such as a Christmas tree in a tube (search eBay—they’re easy to find). Most of all have fun, get the entire family involved, and put your heart into it. Tis the season, but to your service member you’re the reason any gift is special.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!