A couple of years ago, I was packing up a box of goodies to send to a friend's son who was stationed in Iraq.
Just as I was ready to close the box my young son ran into the room and said "Mom, wait! I have something I want to send to Ryan!" And in the box he placed his favorite red, white and blue N.Y Giants football saying, "I figured if the guys ever get any down time they might want something fun to do for a change." And so with 4 weeks left to Christmas, off went the box to Iraq.
About 3 weeks after dropping the box off at the post office, imagine our surprise when we received an email, all the way from Ramadi, Iraq! It was a thank you from Ryan and his platoon, but the best part was the picture he included, for there was the entire platoon standing together with Ryan in the middle, a huge grin on his face as he held up my son's football! He wrote that while they all loved everything we sent, that the football was their favorite thing and that every chance they got they divided up into teams and had their own "Ramadi Superbowl!"
As he looked at the picture and read what Ryan wrote, my son said, "You know, Ryan has no idea that he just gave ME the BEST Christmas gift I've ever received in my entire life!" :)