Hat tip to: Real Clear Politics

Thank you to everyone who has sent wishes for a Merry Christmas this way, especially: family, old friends from New Jersey and Texas, new friends in Virginia, and the students, teachers, faculty and staff at North Warren.

Here's two pictures of Rich, my roomate, with Secretary Rumsfeld who visited our Camp yesterday. You can read Rich's account at his website.

You can log in to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) on Christmas Eve and see where Santa is--betcha didn't know the Military keeps track of these things.
Apparently, Rudolph's nose sends off an infra red signal that they track with satellites. They also have a file of "declassified" pictures of Santa and other assorted Santa sighting related material.

Merry Christmas!!!

"Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual Christmas."
-Benjamin Franklin

"The Christmas spirit of peace, hope, and love is the spirit Americans carry with them all year round, everywhere we go... The tree that lights up our country must be seen all the way to heaven... Its lights fill the air with a spirit of hope, and joy from the heart of America."
Ronald Reagan

The Folks that made that have other tributes at their site, GCS Distributing.

Each of the Tributes is done very well with excellent pictures and set to beautiful scores. They may take a little while to download but they are worth the wait. I encourage you to check them all out, but you might want to secure a box of Kleenex and a friend first.

Direct links to thier tributes are:
We Support You, OIF I Tribute
To Our Parents, Vietnam Veterans Tribute
9-11, This one takes you back to that day we'll never forget
Unitl Then, Soldiers fighting the Global War on Terrorism
Freedom Isn't Free, Korean War Tribute

And here's a little of Mother Nature's Cheer.
This tiny miracle put a smile on everyone's face on the way to dinner last night.

I have one more exam and a paper to turn in, so I am about halfway through finals...I can't WAIT until Wednesday when this is all over!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Rich and I were clearly in the festive mood.

As you can see from Margaret and SFC Julien it's contagious!

Well...I'm off to eat lunch and study for Criminal Law! Thanks for all your encouragement everyone!!!!

PS---Congratulations to Matt for being elected class president and Lauren for landing an awesome new job! Way to go guys!

Pippi's parents are Kristen and Dwight. Dwight is a first year law student with Michelle at Washington and Lee.

Whitney and Toby are anxious for their first play-date.

"You know how we are always wondering what kind of dog Toby is? Well today my suspicions were definitely confirmed that he is mixed with some sort of bird hunting dog. I was sitting in the kitchen and Whitney was sleeping in family room. I look up and Toby was totally STALKING Whitney...almost like a cat! His tail was sticking straight out behind him and he was walking SUPER slow, picking up his paws one at a time and putting them back down ever so carefully...he was completely SILENT on the hardwood floor and sort of crouching down. Then all the sudden he pounced and tackled her!!!! Ok...maybe it isn't coming across as funny as it really was...but I thought it was damn cute!

"Then I was in the office printing some stuff and I found Whitney standing IN Dan's closet covered in clothes just sniffing his shirts.
How sweet and sad is that? I guess she misses her daddy."

Daddy misses her and the rest of the Troop too.
69 Days to go!

Our first target was Travene:

As you can see she is clearly full of the Christmas Spirit joining, us for a picture after a rousing chorus of Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

For your enjoyment I present three pictures Rich!

Here Rich demonstrates the importance of hydration when it is 140 degrees outside. The prominently displayed “Moosejaw” Nalgene bottle is a shameless attempt to win free stuff from the good people at Moosejaw. Rich and I would both like to encourage you to visit their website. They have an interesting sense of humor and excellent customer service.

2 for 1 !!!
You get to meet Jenny Jo, Rich’s wife. She is a 1LT Engineer in the 1st Cavalry Division. Luckily she lives only 2 miles away so they can see each other often and can go to Bible Study and Church together where they both play in the Praise Band (Rich on lead guitar, Jenny on the keyboard)
This shot is from their recent R&R leave. They took the opportunity to check out the land down under. You can make out the Sidney Opera House in the Background.

The final shot is from later in their vacation on the beach near Cairns on the east coast north of Sidney.

Rich has been so jealous of my blog that he’s gotten his own.
Check his out at BeefAlwaysWins.

GREENSBURG, La. (AP) -- These eager beavers had a whole new slant on money laundering.

A bag of bills stolen from a casino was snapped up by beavers who wove thousands of dollars in soggy currency into the sticks and brush of their dam on a creek in eastern Louisiana.

"They hadn't torn the bills up. They were still whole," said Maj. Michael Martin of the East Feliciana Parish sheriff's office.

The money was part of $70,000 to $75,000 taken last week from the Lucky Dollar.

Officers searched the creek during the weekend, finding one money bag right away and spotting a second downstream against the beaver dam.

The third bag of cash couldn't be found, Martin said, so deputies started breaking down the beaver dam to drain the pond it was holding. That was when they saw the dam's expensive decoration. They eventually found the missing bag, which the beavers hadn't completely emptied.

"The casino people were elated" to get the money back, even if some of it was wet, Harrell said.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Matthew and Steven ROCK!!!! We are so proud of you!!