Christmas Gifts to American Soldiers in Iraq Stolen in Transit

The next time you think about sending a care-package to your overseas soldier, be careful. He or she may never actually receive your gifts. Someone else may reap the rewards.

A few weeks ago my Aunt, whose son is serving overseas in Iraq, and I had a great idea. We were already planning to send her son "Steve" a bunch of presents and fresh-baked goodies from home, but why should our spirit of giving stop there? We decided to send enough goodies and munchies to feed an entire Army (or, at the very least, an entire Platoon).

Seems like a great idea, right? It's too bad that not everyone shares in the spirit of giving. Somewhere along the line, an entire Platoon's worth of presents and goodies were stolen. Now my cousin Steve will not receive his gifts this Christmas.

My entire family was involved in this giant undertaking. My grandmother baked dozens and dozens of cookies and an assortment of cakes. My mom and I purchased an array of cocoa mixes, canned soups, potato chips, peanuts, and instant mac'n'cheese. My aunt bought a dozen stockings, candies, and lip balms. We spent all evening stuffing 11 stockings (one for every member of Steve's squad) and 25 gift bags. This huge shipment was meant to bring a little bit of home to the troops for the holidays.

We also bought Steve several nice gifts from each of us. We truly wanted to help him and all his friends have a wonderful holiday season, even though they're stuck in Iraq in the middle of a war.

War is always hard. Being away from family is always hard. But it's even more difficult during the holidays. So we wanted to let everyone know that we cared about them, and help Steve have a merry holiday away from home. When he at his cookies, we hoped, it would be like we were there beside him because we'd spent so much energy thinking about him and baking them in our kitchen.