I think NOT.
My son, now in his late twentys described a past Christmas for me.
It was winter time, wet and cold and misrable. His outfit always moved, so no real place to stay.
They found a bombed out building where the remaining walls would provide good cover, the remaining roof kept the rian off of him and his buddies.
They took up a collection and purchased a local Hadji stove (kerosene wick) to heat thier meals.
On Chirstmas day, a small miricale - part of the mail arrived. One of the boxes was “To any service member” and contained some melted chocklet and small string of colored light powered by a battery.
The lights went into an interior room (light discipline) with a small treee made from “trash” (I have no idea).
Nobody shot at them for a couple of days and they thought it was great - time with friends to enjoy the season, heat some warm food and sleep.
Many in his company were under 20 at the time, and Anbar really sucked.
This Christmas - he lost his room mate - another re-re-re-redeployment, this time to Bosnia, so he will be gone for at least a year. We think one of his travel buddies from Japan will move in till summer so the place won’t be so empty.
WHen I asked him what he could use for Christmas - he just wanted a bag of dogfood for his buddy - Bozer (a Basset hound). He was happy as a clam - a whole roof, running water (hot no less!) food in the fridge, a full time job even.
I like to think my son understands Christmas...
We sure as heck do, he is home with us and has started with his bad jokes, indeed, a real Christmas.
For you FReepers - may this be a good time for you and your family.