Thanksgiving in Iraq

Another milestone has been passed during my time here in Iraq. I was here last month for Halloween as well, but this holiday brought a more acute feeling of being apart from home. I've grown accustomed to having to choose a family to spend the holidays with, but this year I'm away from everyone. I'm still feeling okay. I'm surrounded by my brothers in arms, and that's good enough. In the morning, I attended a special mass for Thanksgiving, and spent a few minutes afterward talking with Fr. Hotel and a few of the other church-goers. I'm really starting to feel friendships building there. It's great to have another group of people out here to have for company.

After church, I worked for a couple of hours, and then Sgt. Rhino sent us home and closed up the shop early. There were few people in the offices anyway. The dining facilities (DFACs) put on a royal feast, as they usually do. It's one of two days that the military cooks put on their white chef's coats and cook their gourmet dishes. There were decorations everywhere!

I've been doing my best to get into the holiday spirit. It's not very efficient to get a lot of decorations to put up here. I would have to buy them here or have them sent from home, put them up for a couple of weeks, then either ship them home again or throw them away. But I have found a good way to remind me of the season. Using my Rhapsody subscription, I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music. One of my favorite CDs has been Mistletoe and Wine from the Mediæval Bæbes. The group is a small choir of women with a little instrumental accompaniment, and their music is reminiscent of very old church music and chants. A few songs are even in Latin and French. If you can get a hold of it, it's certainly worth a listen.