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 |  A letter from home for Christmas for soldiers who can't be here. CONTEST - NO ENTRY FEE |
     Hello! I hope this message finds you to already be in good spirits and that it will leave you in even greater spirits. My name is Ainsley Jo Phillips, and I'm sending warmest holiday wishes from our farm on the south side of Anderson, Indiana. This is home to me--has been since my folks and I first moved here (originally living in the apartment in Anderson that my folks moved into upon returning from their honeymoon after getting married on February 8, 1947) the spring after I turned one on December 12, 1953--and I'm home for Christmas for real while you're home for Christmas (as that beautiful classic song goes) if only in your dreams. I'm not even sure where your home is, but I would like to know. Do you have access to a computer? If so, I would love to write back and forth with you. I can give my information to Angel_Eyes  (who is the angel behind the care packages that you and other servicemen and servicewomen are getting), and she can share it with you.For right now, I would love to share a couple of Christmas stories that I believe you will find to be especially meaningful. By the time you receive this, I'll be 60 years old. What a year it is to be celebrating a birthday on December 12, because all people celebrating birthdays on December 12 will be the last ones until another century has gone by to celebrate on 12/12/12. Being 60, I can take the 12 business to an even greater extent, as I'll be 5 x 12 years old. Of course, those people who will be turning 12 will be the most interesting of all. They will turn 12 on 12/12/12. And a one year old baby will be turning 12 months old that day. I'm feeling inspired right now to write a whole bunch of stuff on this subject...Yep! I'm a writer! Of course, being a writer doesn't make me unique when it comes to what you'll be finding in your care package, as I'm one of many writers, as these greetings are coming from an online writing site called Writing.com (or WDC for short) that was set up for us by a unique couple known as The StoryMaster  and The StoryMistress  .If you're a writer, too, why not ask Angela to refer you to join us here!?! If you don't write but love to read, you would enjoy it here as well. It's just my widowed mom and me living here now with her living up at the home we built in 1967 (construction started the summer between when I graduated from eighth grade and started high school) after selling the original house and almost an acre of land to a young family with three sons and me living in a converted barn that is rich in history. This will be changing soon when my mom and I become housemates after we get her place remodeled to be handicapped-friendly. Both of us now need a little extra help in our lives. She turned 90 this past April 6 and is, at the moment, in a wonderful nursing home for a lot of rehab. She's making great strides, but she won't be home in time for Christmas, and I won't be seeing her on that day, either. But we talk a couple of times a day on the phone. Recently, she told me that the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" has been playing in her mind a lot lately. Like the serviceman away from home during World War II when this song became popular, she says that she'll be home for Christmas if only in her dreams. I need to finish this greeting soon in order to get it to you on time, but I want to tell you about the Christmas of 1962 that took place right after my tenth birthday. There's a picture of my folks and me (taken by Aunt Jenny) in front of our Christmas tree. My dad had just returned home from a long stay at Robert Long Hospital in Indianapolis after open-heart surgery with complications. We all look so happy in this picture. I wouldn't know until many years later that this picture came close to not being taken for two different reasons. One reason was that my dad almost didn't survive. The other reason is one that has to do with you. That past Halloween, we had almost experienced World War III complete with mushroom clouds! People like you play a big part in making sure that something like this will never happen, so we owe you so much! Have a very Merry Christmas, because you deserve it!!! God Bless You! & God Bless America! AJ wants U 2 meet The CanMan!  |
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