This poem touched my heart, and it made me think of all our troops who are risking their lives keeping our country safe this holiday.   Operation Hi Honey has given all of us at Canvas on Demand a new appreciation and awareness of the sacrifices these men and women–and their families at home–are making.   Have a blessed holiday and New Year.   Stay safe!   And know that your are loved and appreciated.   Mom

A Different Christmas Poem
By Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,

I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you’ve done, For
being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, ”
Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

I don’t know when my heart has been so touched as when I met Tony–a remarkable Army husband in North Carolina.   Someday I hope to return to their home to meet his amazing wife,Mayla.   It takes true heart to lovingly care over the years for a total of 74 (yes, 74!) little children.   And it takes true grit to survive the loss of several of those precious angels.  

Give yourself a gift today and watch the video below.   You will be inspired by the lesson this couple teaches!   Mom

I never stop being amazed at my experiences on the road.   So often what I expect turns into the UNexpected!   This was the case with Lesia and Fleet.   When Lesia learned I would be coming to the Norfolk area to present an Operation Hi Honey Anniversary Canvas in person to her husband, Fleet, she had an idea.

In order to help Canvas on Demand get the word out to our deployed troops about  this program, she suggested I make the presentation on base at a dinner with nearly fifty  senior enlisted sailors.   What a wonderful opportunity this was for me and for Canvas on Demand.  

But that wasn’t the end of the surprises that night.   Our  co-owners  sent me away  with a $100 Gift Card for each sailor there.   But in the end, the biggest surprise was to Canvas on Demand.  

Watch the video below to see  how that group turned the tables and surprised Canvas on Demand with a special Thanks of their own!   Mom