WEBVTT

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but you guys , you were just talking to

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me a second ago about how you guys

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recording everything while you were in

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Afghanistan you're back here and

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everything and now you're back and this

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is your first christmas together as

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you're just explaining right ? So

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what's that , what's that experience

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been like for you guys ? Either one ,

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it's pretty emotional I'd say because

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we especially want to be with our

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families and it's yeah you know last

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christmas was probably a little bit

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easier for her , she have to bounce

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around now , we've got to bounce around

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between families . But yeah we were

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really looking forward to it . It's

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something that's gonna be a big deal .

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Yeah I'm excited . Very holidays are

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and are very important in both of our

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families so far . First holiday

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together is gonna be a big deal . What

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was what was last christmas like how

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did you guys correspond with each other

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christmas day ? I wasn't even supposed

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to be able to call her christmas day

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and then last minute they called us to

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go down to the company fob and they had

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sat phones down there because all the

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internet went down , we left we

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actually left our fob Is about , it

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wasn't that far is maybe a click or two

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away to hike down the company filed .

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We got there and some went wrong and

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before we before we walked in the gate

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we had to turn around and go back and

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we had to try and go back to actually

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make a phone call and then we got there

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the second time they let us know that

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everything was down , it wasn't working

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but they had sat phones . So I got ,

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we're getting ready to leave their like ,

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oh well we got a couple sat phones , I

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got to call on the sat phone and she

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was sick and she was supposed to go to

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my family's house for breakfast but she

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was able to make it cause she was sick

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at home . But yeah , I got to make one

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phone call christmas morning , I think

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it was the day after christmas for us .

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But christmas morning for what was that

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experience like for you , I wasn't

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expecting to talk to him , You never

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expect to talk to somebody on special

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days just because you don't , but I was

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so excited . I was so sick but that

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made my whole day I wasn't excited for

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christmas but that made my whole day ,

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you always like the first thought that

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went through your head when you heard

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his voice on the other end of the phone .

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I don't know , I was just , I was just

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happy . It's the same feeling you get ,

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every time they call you , you're

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excited because you never know when

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they're going to call you , you know ,

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talk about that a little bit like

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psychologically just what it's like to

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be back at home while your husband's

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deployed . Um it's kind of hard , you

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get to see the rest of your friends and

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family with their loved ones that , you

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know , their significant others and you

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don't have that , you wish they were

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there and you know it's , but you know

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that they're over there doing something

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good . So you're okay with it . But

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it's hard , it's definitely hard and

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this year being together and everything ,

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you talked about it a little bit before

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but just can you just one more time ,

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Either one of you , both of you just to

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describe the contrast . Just 11 more

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time . It's so different . It's

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complete happiness . I , the holidays

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are my favorite time of year . So

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having him next to me to enjoy it is

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amazing . I mean everybody likes

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christmas but there are certain

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families , okay . Yeah , we're big on

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the holidays for families . Like we are

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big on the holidays . We are always

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together and that's how both of our

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families are . So it's a big deal . It

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really is for us to finally spend our

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first christmas together . Can you guys

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talk about some of your different

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christmas traditions that you've had

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over the years . I always do christmas

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eve at my step mom's house and I do

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christmas morning at my mom's house and

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we usually do by noon ish we're all

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opening presents . It goes from the

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youngest to the oldest in there . The

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youngest opens one president and then

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the next one opens one president and

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all the way up to the oldest and then

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goes back down to the youngest opens

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his next president all the way back up .

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So you're sitting there for like three

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hours when we open the president like

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waiting like my next who's next ? Hey

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much . It's fun . So my family

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is pretty much the same thing . I've

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been the christmas eve at my dad's and

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morning at my dad's and then to my moms

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and it's the same way you go from

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youngest to oldest one at a time . So

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it takes forever . But then you spend

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that much more time with family because

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you're one of us knew that about each

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other's families until right now . So

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you guys ask the question . That's true .

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I don't start to kind of evolve as the

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process goes along or maybe it turns

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into a free for all at one point in the

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orders or yeah , I think after

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sometimes after like an hour or two

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from my family , does someone like

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sneaking open and went behind their

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back , I'm not a presence and then it

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goes the next guy and then open the

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rest of the matter . So what , what

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this year would you say is the big

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ticket item that you guys are looking

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forward to be honest . The date . What

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do you mean ? There's gonna be like one

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item that you just really want for

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christmas , we're going to use 78 the

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day after christmas . Yeah . I think

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the biggest , the biggest christmas

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this year cash . But I don't think it's ,

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we're not even thinking too much about

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presences were , so We're so zoned out

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on you 70 . My uncles like a dad to me ,

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he's really Very big part of my life

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and me and my uncle and his wife and

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two kids , we're all going to Yosemite

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the 26 , 27 , 28 . So three days after

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Christmas to run a few seventies ,

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spent some time in the snow . She's

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never been there . So it's gonna be fun .

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Thank you . Let me just ask you to from

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the last interview as well . But just

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within your unit and everything um

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celebrating like I guess christmas as a ,

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you know , what are some things that

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you do for the marines that are kind of

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away from home ? What are some things

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that the shop or the battalion does I

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guess in your unit ? Well , I can tell

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you from Afghanistan side of story ,

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christmas , I can tell you from this

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side of story this year . This year

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it's definitely I didn't , I didn't , I

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never did big christmas stuff giveaways

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that I remember like two years ago last

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year , they might have that I wasn't

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here . So it's a big deal . Like I have

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junior ruins of mine that it came to my

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house for thanksgiving and they're more

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than welcome to my house since I live

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close for christmas or it is a big

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family . So they're absolutely

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everyone's , if you've got somewhere to

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go , we make sure somebody , you know ,

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you make sure everyone has somewhere to

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go , it's just you're not sitting in

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the barracks period . But last year we

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had a little christmas tree about a

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foot or two tall and somebody sent us a

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bunch of ornaments out there and each

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one of us wrote her name on the bottom ,

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the ornament and we had our little

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christmas tree inside of our tent , we

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hung up lights and intent and hook them

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up to the generator and we had a

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christmas tree and christmas lights up

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in the tent . I saw you

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guys picking out your tree seem to have

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like a pretty vigorous selection

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process . Guys were determined to get

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the best tree , what what was , what

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were you guys looking for in your tree ?

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I just wanted the biggest tree , she

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wants to like poofy history and I

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wanted the biggest tree , we always had

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like a six ft christmas tree and I just

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wanted a good solid 10 ft tree , we got

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an apartment with vaulted ceilings , so

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I really like , I'm going , we're going

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better going home , let's get it . I'm

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just bossy . So I have to have a say .

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So and what does it mean to you guys to

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have this program where you guys can

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just come and pick out your own tree .

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This is awesome , to be honest with you

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work work buying christmas presents and

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cutting it close right now to have this

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christmas to give away . It meant a lot .

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We didn't , we almost , we're talking

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about not even getting a tree because

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we couldn't afford it this really , it

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wouldn't have happened with her in the

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house . But we were , it would have had

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a christmas tree some way . It's nice

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to have something like this definitely

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makes it with well what do you think a

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program like this does for marines who

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this might be their first time away

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from home or they don't have a family

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around ? Well , that's the first time

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away from home . I've got family and

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then obviously they're probably pretty

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new to the Marine Corps and it kind of

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gives them a solid standard that lets

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them know , hey , you know what ? They

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do take care of us , They are here for

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us . They're not , this isn't just some

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place where people yelling screaming

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and we're meeting all day . It's a ,

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it's a family and we're going through

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training and things are rough at times

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but they're definitely definitely gives

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them an idea . It lets them know that

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the Marine Corps is there for them and

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their senior marines and their peers

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are there from as well . And this one

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might see a little bit redundant . But

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what's the best part about being home

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from Afghanistan for this christmas ,

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the waking up christmas morning and not

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looking over waking up next to my wife

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christmas morn is going to be the best

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and what about for you ? What's the

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best part he just said it just having

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them here . The President's don't mean

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anything in his presence . That

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excitement of christmas morning in

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Afghanistan . You remember what

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christmas day is ? I mean you try and

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you do your best like , oh it's

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thanksgiving today . Oh it's Mother's

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Day , it's Father's day , but it's gel ,

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it's that's the last thing on your mind

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and you try to you try to follow

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somewhat of a sanity life of what today

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is , what's going on . But you gotta

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more so pay attention what's going out

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there to be able to be home and wake up

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going , yeah , it's christmas morning ,

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it's gonna be awesome . Give me a cool ,

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all right , all I have , is there

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anything either of you would like to

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add christmas