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." PLEASE, would you do me the

 kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas

 will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and

 women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in

 this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and

 think of our heroes, living and dead, who

 sacrificed themselves for us.