Merry Christmas!

Chances are if you’re reading this, you’re enjoying a Christmas safe and snug, inside a home that’s equipped with light and heat. Hopefully, you know something of what it’s like to spend a holiday far from home, far from loved ones, far from familiar faces and hopefully life’s eventual outcome has led you back to a place where, today, tonight and forevermore, you’ll be held in the warm embrace of hearth and home, kith and kin.

Now, I ask you to spare a moment’s thought for those who are not with their family and those who may not be with their family for some time to come. Spare a moment’s thought for the service members who are this very moment standing watch, somewhere, to protect you and to make the world safe. They labor 24 hours a day, they work for a pittance and too often they are disregarded or worse disrespected.

Chances are this Christmas season you’ll hoist a beer or two. I would ask that as you hoist one of those beers you utter an audible prayer – yes, not a silent prayer – for the thousands of men and women who are at that very moment standing watch in your defense; though they expect nothing, they deserve nothing less than our undying gratitude. A prayer seems the least we can do.

I hope you’ll stop in next year for more fun and in the meantime, Merry Christmas!