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Posted on 12/24/2005 9:08:05 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Holiday observances during the American Civil War  Click the flag  Lonely camp scene from an 1862 Harper's Weekly entitled "Christmas Eve". Even with all the sorrow that hangs, and will forever hang, over so many households; even while war still rages; even while there are serious questions yet to be settled - ought it not to be, and is it not, a merry Christmas?" Harper's Weekly, December 26, 1863  Harper's Weekly depicts a family separated by war in its January 3,1863 edition. For a nation torn by civil war, Christmas in the 1860s was observed with conflicting emotions. Nineteenth-century Americans embraced Christmas with all the Victorian trappings that had moved the holiday from the private and religious realm to a public celebration. Christmas cards were in vogue, carol singing was common in public venues, and greenery festooned communities north and south. Christmas trees stood in places of honor in many homes, and a mirthful poem about the jolly old elf who delivered toys to well-behaved children captivated Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. But Christmas also made the heartache for lost loved ones more acute. As the Civil War dragged on, deprivation replaced bounteous repasts and familiar faces were missing from the family dinner table. Soldiers used to "bringing in the tree" and caroling in church were instead scavenging for firewood and singing drinking songs around the campfire. And so the holiday celebration most associated with family and home was a contradiction. It was a joyful, sad, religious, boisterous, and subdued event.  "The Christmas Tree" by F. A. Chapman. Many of the holiday customs we associate with Christmas today were familiar to 1840s celebrants. Christmas cards were popularized that decade and Christmas trees were a stylish addition to the parlor. By the 1850s, Americans were singing "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Away in a Manger" in public settings. In 1850 and 1860, Godey's Lady's Book featured Queen Victoria's tabletop Christmas tree, placed there by her German husband Prince Albert. Closer to home, in December, 1853, Robert E. Lee's daughter recorded in her diary that her father - then superintendent at West Point - possessed an evergreen tree decorated with dried and sugared fruit, popcorn, ribbon, spun glass ornaments, and silver foil. Clement Clarke Moore, a religious scholar who for decades was too embarrassed to claim authorship of the 1822 poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas," was now well-known for his tribute to Santa Claus. "Santa Claus" made his first public appearance in a Philadelphia department store in 1849, marking the advent of holiday commercialism. For enslaved African Americans, the Christmas season often meant a mighty bustle of cooking, housekeeping, and other chores. "Reward" for these efforts was a suspension of duties for a day or two and the opportunity for singing, dancing, and possible brief reunions with separated family members. Further gestures of "goodwill" by masters who saw themselves as benevolent owners were small and the semi-annual clothing allotment. By 1860, many worried about civil unrest, fearful this Christmas would be the last before the outbreak of war. An Arkansas diarist writes: "Christmas has come around in the circle of time, but is not a day of rejoicing. Some of the usual ceremonies are going on, but there is gloom on the thoughts and countenances of all the better portion of our people."
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Roger, wilco
Bonus feature
| January 10, 2006
Drawn By The Cross
Read:
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Towering above New York Harbor is the Statue of Liberty. That stately lady, with freedom's torch held high, has beckoned millions of people who were choking from the stifling air of tyranny or oppression. They've been drawn to what that monument symbolizes—freedom.
Inscribed on Lady Liberty's pedestal are these words by Emma Lazarus from her poem "The New Colossus":
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse
of your teeming shore;
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
A different monument towers over history, offering spiritual freedom to enslaved peoples everywhere. It's the cross where Jesus hung 2,000 years ago. At first the scene repels us. Then we see the sinless Son of God dying in our place for our sins. From the cross we hear the words "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34) and "It is finished!" (John 19:30). As we trust in Christ as our Savior, the heavy burden of guilt rolls from our sin-weary souls. We are free for all eternity.
Have you heard and responded to the invitation of the cross? —Dennis De Haan
Our greatest freedom is freedom from sin.
Lost your Blackberry I see!
Great pics today.
Nice bonus feature!
Good morning PE, glad to be home I bet.
Good Ones! :^)
Norm!
Hi miss Feather
Good morning PE, glad to be home I bet.
Well, I did get to watch a show about Area 51!
Q: Whatcha up to Norm? (said by Sam)
A: My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall.
Milkbone underwear is my favorite. ;-)
The Denver Post started up Sunday with a hit-piece series to show that Iraq vets are all mental cases or alkies (just like the Vietnam vets, doncha know). The first piece, however, profiled a terrific Staff Sergeant stationed at Fort Carson who did a successful tour as a squad leader in Iraq and has a wonderful wife and kids who really missed him. So what's messed up about him, you might ask? Turns out that with such a wonderful life in the States, Sarge doesn't really want to have to do a second tour. Duh!!!
I'd say the Post is having a hard time supporting their biased thesis. Our Iraqi vets are overwhelmingly well-adjusted folks who do great work.
Roger, wilco
You tease, you!
Oh criminy, not again.
I was out and about getting a part for the furnace at home, and merely checked my pings.
ROTFLOL, instant replay??
LOL
that's it!
Wonder how long thoughs posts are going to be coming in!! Years??
Lord I hope not!
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