This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Capital One. All opinions are 100% mine.
Last week, Jacob shared his #WishForOthers: for all the homeless animals to find their “furever” families for the holidays. This week, I want to share my wish (in addition to Jacob’s wish, because I’m passionate about that as well). If you’re a regular reader, you know that I come from a huge military family. I’m an ex-Navy wife, Navy niece, Navy cousin and Navy granddaughter. I’m also a Marine cousin (my darling cousin David decided to break tradition and go his own way, although we joke that the Marines are still technically part of the Navy!). Supporting the troops is incredibly important to me. They give up so much to keep our country safe, including precious time away from their families.
When my ex was serving, he spent every Christmas until we got married far away from his family. He was in Alaska, Diego Garcia and Japan. When we got married, I lived in Japan with him, so we both spend the holidays away from the rest of our family. At least we were together, but we were still far from the rest of our loved ones. The thing is, he had the leave time to come home, just not the money for the flight. Sadly, that’s the case with many of our military members. They’ve earned the time yet finances keep them away.
Right now, there are thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines stuck in countries far from home. Some in harms way, others in relatively comfortable settings but lonely nevertheless. Whether they’re fighting on the front lines or serving in supportive roles on bases around the world, being away from home during the holidays is always hard. I know it’s not logistically possible to bring every member of the military home for the holidays, but I do wish that those who have the option of coming home (leave time) are given some help financially to make it happen. For those who just can’t come home (I realize it’s not feasible to pull everyone out for leave over the holidays), I just really want you all to know that I am thinking of you and wishing for your continued safety.
For those of you on the “homefront” who want to do something special for our service members, your local veterans groups can help you get started. Contact the VA, VFW and American Legion for ideas on what is needed in your area. One fantastic way to help out: sending goodie boxes overseas with home comforts, like holiday candy! Baked goods are iffy, they don’t always make it before they go bad.
Share your Wish for Others with Capital One
Ready to share your Wish for Others for a chance to make it come true? It’s easy! Just share it on Twitter or Instagram with the #WishForOthers hashtag, or on the Capital One Facebook page Page from now through December 23rd. Visit the Wish For Others website to learn more. Remember, the spirit behind the #WishForOthers campaign is obviously to share a wish for OTHERS. It can be your friend, your neighbor, your community or even, in the case of my wish, an entire military!
I would love to hear about your wish! After you share it, come back and tell me about it! Leave me a link in the comments so I can check it out.
I love your wish! I would love it if they were able to bring all of the troops home as well. I think that would be my wish as well. And that all families have a great holiday this year. It would be so great for all the troops to be home with their families during the holidays.
As the wife of a retired vet, I would love to see families reunited this Christm!as
What a great wish! I wish everyone was home with loved ones in a warm home everyday! Especially over the holidays!
I can see that goodie boxes would be so welcome and appreciated. Getting some of their stateside favorite treats would be wonderful!
What a fabulous wish!!! That would seriously be amazing if the troops could come home and spend the holidays with their families 🙂
Awesome wish! its too bad that will not come true.. even for a day.
That’s a very beautiful wish. It would be great if the troops could come home for the Holidays to be with their family. 🙂
Very beautiful post! That would be fantastic if they could come home!
This is such an amazing post! I have a few friends in the military and would love to see them home with their families this holiday season!
What a wonderful post. We should all remember to count our blessings.
I am going to continue with your wish. It is such a beautiful one. One that needs to happen asap
Great wish! You can speak from experience — thanks to your family for all the military service.
I wish that too. I love this post because I am pretty sure a lot of us have family members serving right now. And if we could get one gift. It would be for them to be home.
I wish this as well. They deserve to be home with their families. So sad but thankful for their service.
Your wish is very sentimental for me. Being away from family is hard.
It’s always hard to have family missing, your wish is very nice!
Lovely post truly! I can’t even imagine being separated from my loved ones, so difficult.
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That’s such a shame when a person has leave but finances prevent a visit anyway! My favorite thing about Christmas is having all of the kids home. This year, however, unless something changes, my 2nd oldest isn’t able to get off work. We may go see him right after the holiday. 🙂
I want all of our troops to be able to come home! How great would that be!
This is a great wish to have, especially when you have family in the military. It’s so sad that people can’t spend time with their loved ones at these special times.
Thank you so much for sharing. We have family in the military and although they won’t be home for Christmas, my nephew will be home at the end of Christmas and for that we are all grateful.
What a great wish! Hopefully one day it will come true..
What a sweet wish, our troops and their families do a lot for us for sure. I appreciate them and their time they devote to protect our country. Have a happy week!
My wish is for no one to go hungry this Christmas. It would be amazing if the troops could be home for the holidays.
Such a sweet wish. My wish is for everyone’s wishes to come true this Christmas. 🙂
I would love to send some care packages to our troops. It must be so hard for them to be away from their families.
What a wonderful wish, my wish is for people to be able to spend time with all those they love this Christmas!
This is such a great wish! Military members and their families sacrifice so much for our safety.
I can only imagine how hard it would be for families that have someone serving any time of year. But during the holidays it has to be so much more difficult. What a great wish to have.
I wish there was some way to alternate when the troops come home, make sure they get at least one major holiday at home with their family. It’s a great wish.
This is an awesome cause indeed. Our troops do so much for us it would not hurt any of us to give back to them. Thanks for sharing.
Your #wishforothers is lovely! God bless all of our troops and their families! Xo
I remember when I served I spent every Christmas away from my family. I think it was a bit easier once I became a mom because I had my little one with me atleast to celebrate.
I really wish all of our troops would be home for Christmas and stay home 🙂
That’s a really great wish for others you have there! Mine is a bit personal. It would be for my son to meet my mom. He’s never met her.
What a beautiful wish. I am right there with you. Christmas means so much to me. Not the presents, in fact this year we have none, but the time with family. I would be so very sad to miss out, or have any of my family non around due to being overseas. These people give us so very much.
I was in the Air Force in Germany for 2 Christmases and would loved to have been home with my family.
It’s hard, isn’t it? Even if you’re in an amazing place like Germany, it’s still not home. Japan was spectacular and I loved almost every minute of my stay there. Just not during the holidays.
i am allergic to just about anything there is– if it’s from a box or can likely hood is i can’t have it. i have to make everything from scratch and after a while of using the same recipes for pretty much two years, it’s nice to find something so tasteful that i can actually eat. This recipe is delicious and a huge hit with my family, ill definitely be adding it to my recipe book and making it again.