Memorable Christmas Celebrations

I am fortunate to have many wonderful Christmas memories of great food, wonderful family gatherings, and lots of gifts.

The celebrations I most cherish are those where there was no family, no great food, and no gifts. They all occurred while I was on military duty with the Naval Reserve.

The Navy trains its reservists by job duty rather than training a whole unit at one time. As a reservist, I was required to do two weeks of active duty each year. Generally, in each instance, I was able to pick from a list of dates and missions. Since I joined the Reserves at age 17, I decided to try to do my training during the Christmas holidays so I could work uninterrupted during the summer.

The first Christmas I spent away from home and family was when I attended the two week “boot camp” at Great Lakes, Illinois. There were about 80 of us in our company. It was terribly cold and we marched in formation everywhere we went. On Christmas Eve we went through training as if it was a regular day. The guys in the company were excited about Christmas even though it would be kind of barren. That evening after taps, after our drill instructor was comfortably out of range, we decided to read the Christmas story from Luke. I had a Bible and several volunteers provided light from their Zippo cigarette lighters. (We were forbidden to turn on lights after taps.) With the flickering light, I read the passage from Luke. Then the lighters were closed and we all went to our “racks” (bed) to sleep the evening away. As things settled down, someone suggested we sing “Silent Night”. So we did. A group of 80 young men lying in their racks were singing. It sounded wonderful to us. In reality, it was probably more comfortable than beautiful. Then we slept the night away knowing our training would continue as normal on Christmas Day.

The next two times I spent Christmas away was at Pensacola Naval Hospital. My “rate” (job) was Hospital Corpsman. So I would go to the Naval Hospital for hands on training. I learned a lot while there. In each instance, I would volunteer to pull extra duty on Christmas Day so one of the regular staff could spend Christmas with their family. I would venture to the Episcopal Church in downtown Pensacola for midnight Mass, drive back to the base and get up early to report for duty at 0700 hours. When I finished that shift, I stayed on for the next shift and got off around mid-night. It was a good feeling to give someone time off and a good feeling to be of comfort to those were ill.

The last time I spent Christmas away from home was when I was in Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes, Illinois. I could have gotten leave for Christmas, but elected not to take it because my fiancé and I planned to get married when I finished the school and had a permanent duty assignment. I was able to volunteer at the huge Naval Hospital located there and allow somebody to enjoy Christmas with their family. Again, it was a feeling of giving.

In each instance, the giving of myself, the Christmas celebrated with religious services and no presents or family was more satisfying and enjoyable than most other Christmas’ I have experienced.

Oh, I did celebrate briefly with my family before departing in the first three instances. But to have a Christmas Eve and Christmas day concentrated only on others allowed me to experience the true meaning of Christmas….giving thanks for the birth of Jesus Christ.