What it is all about: actual messages from U.S. Troops that received a Real Christmas Tree in 2007

My family and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for such a wonderful gift! Last year my husband was not home and it was the first Christmas in the five years that we were married that he has ever missed, it was very hard on the children. We weren't sure how we were going to get such a nice tree and God blessed us with this gift from your organization. This is the biggest and best tree we have had as a family. Thank you again and God bless all of you who made this possible.

Much Love,

The Gonzalez-Sanchez Family  

I just wanted to say thank you to all the sponsors who support the Trees for Troops program.  We haven’t had a live tree in 12 years and I had forgotten how wonderful they are!  The tree is beautiful and smells so good. 

Thank you for your support and your appreciation—it means a lot to us!

Chris, Christy, Connor, and Annabelle
Clarksville, TN

Thank you so much for making a difference for our families here at Ft Bliss, TX.

I have recently moved to Texas and had not yet been in the holiday spirit, since I originally come from Minnesota and miss the snow.  Yesterday, being someone who downloaded and distributed trees to grateful families really moved me.  Small children were thrilled to be able to pick out their own family tree.

 Spouses from 4-1 CAV were picking up trees that will welcome their Soldier home within the next few weeks.

Soldiers from various units were driving their trucks over to assist other Soldiers with a tree pickup.  The holiday spirit was all around us at the Trees for Troops location.  It meant so much to me and others to be a part of that and we thank you.

Photos-

1.) group photo of those who were there early to pick up their tree

2.) two Soldiers carry away a tree for one of them

3.) My friends Debbie (short blonde hair) and Cher

(standing) and myself (red turtleneck) as we enjoy a break from downloading

Thanks again to all involved.  While we families members are proud to be supporting our loved ones, we appreciate the love and support from all who give it to us and our Soldiers as well.

Becki

Greetings from the Austin family located here in Lawton/Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  We would like to send a huge thank you to the Trees for Troop program for your kindness in giving in support of the military this holiday season.  We received our tree yesterday and everyone was so kind.  My husband SSG Austin is currently located in Camp Hovey, Korea.

Your thoughtfulness and appreciation of our military troops is  so awesome.  It makes the holidays a little more heart warming when we are separated from our loved ones, knowing that there are people and

organizations out there that support the military to the fullest.   May you all have a wonderful holiday season.  Thank you and God Bless.

~ Eric, Christy, and Tyler

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

Just wanted to pass along a thanks for letting us participate this year.

Of course it had to be the coldest day of the year to off load these but it was worth it as our Families and Soldiers were happy to receive them.

Rex

Dear FedEx and all contributors to the Trees for Troops program,

I want to extend a quick note of thanks to all of you for the Trees for Troops program.  I have now been in the military for more than 17 years and have seen a lot of programs designed to benefit the members of the military - yours certainly takes one of the top spots for a multitude of reasons.  It was well advertised this year, every family that wanted a tree got one, all of the trees were outstanding quality, they were available at the right time of year, etc. 

Since I was a kid, our family went to pick out a tree every year.  Of course, the usual Christmas traditions followed, normally including hot chocolate and decorating the tree itself with the thousand-or-so ornaments accumulated through childhood elementary schools and family travels. 

Our nation's struggle has been tough these past six-plus years.  I've personally been separated from my family over Christmas twice already since September 11th, 2001 - and this is probably average or low for most members of our military.  I am thankful for those serving out on the front lines tonight.  I am thankful to be home with my family this year because of their faithfulness.  And I'm thankful for your demonstration of our partnership between our nation's military and civilians.  Our family celebrated the same old traditions thanks to your program and thoughtfulness.  Thank you again. 

Sincerely,

Major Ken and family
U.S. Army

Dear FedEx, the Christmas Spirit Foundation and all supporters of Trees for Troops,

I just wanted to let you all know our story, and how much your tree means to us.

My husband and I met at Christmas and were married in June of the following year. During the six years we've been together, we've had borrowed trees, miniature fake trees and no tree at all. Our children have never decorated a tree. We've never been able to enjoy the pine smell or the festivity one brings to our home.  You see, it's usually just me or me and the kids at Christmas-time.  I've gone to visit family a few times during Christmas and enjoyed their trees, or if I stayed home because my husband would be coming home, I just put up the little fake tree we call our 'Christmas Shrub', it's about a foot tall, but looks sort of festive if you decorate it right.   So in our sixth year, upon hearing there would be trees for us from Trees for Troops, I was excited. 

 I had to put it up and decorate it mostly myself. I had to rearrange the living room, and dig the few ornaments we had out of storage in the garage. I had to buy lights and more ornaments and candy canes and ... well you get the picture.  But the end result is our family gets to have our first real Christmas tree.  My husband will even be here for a few days at Christmas to see it.  And for the kids it's like having magic right in our living room.  They got to help decorate (the bottom branches were all they could reach!) and pick out the tree. And when they picked it out they got teddy bears and coloring books from FedEx.  Both of them are extremely attached to those teddy bears.

And now when my soldier comes home, it will be to a real tree just like we both remember when we were children. And we'll finally be able to share the magic of the Christmas tree with our children. 

My three-year-old daughter took a few photos and I took some of the finished tree. We're sending these for you to share.  Thank you for providing us with so much joy this Christmas.  It's nice to know that our sacrifices are appreciated, and our loyalty and devotion as military families is recognized.  It makes it a much sweeter gift knowing that it came from people who really just want us to have joy in our lives.  Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

~Nelli 

Fort Campbell, TN

My wife and I are so very thankful for the Christmas tree. It is wounderful and it really made us happy. This is the picture of it. I just bought that deer thats next to it, but it kinda looks good there. well thanks again

Mr. Quinones

First, I would like to say thank you for the beautiful Christmas tree now sitting in my living room.  Below is our story...

My husband has been serving a one-year hardship tour in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait and this Christmas will be the first Christmas we've ever spent apart in 17 years of military service.  My husband is an E-7 in the United States Army and I'm so very proud of him.  This will be a very hard Christmas for him, for me, and for our two children. 

Every year we always go pick a real tree out together as a family.  We then come home and Mark helps me put it in the stand, making sure it's straight and then we all help decorate it.  I knew it was going to be difficult getting a tree without him this year so I had been joking with him that we were going to just get a "Charlie Brown" tree this year.  Something small and easy to put up.  Well, when we started hearing about the free trees for troops at Ft. Polk earlier this month we figured we'd go check it out. 

It turned out to be so nice.  We got there a little before 9 am and they had cocoa and cookies and the line went rather quickly.  We got to pick the tree we wanted and my daughter actually picked the tree we later took home.  It was so easy and nice. 

Once we got it home, it was a little more difficult getting it situated in the tree stand because I had to be my husband and my daughter had to be me and hold the tree straight.  But we got it in and got it decorated.

Thank you so much for doing this for families of deployed soldiers.  We really appreciate it.  It made getting the tree without dad a little easier. 

I have three pictures I'd like to send you.  I think I may have to send three separate emails.  The picture attached to this email is one of my daughter next to her tree.  The second is a picture of her under the Trees for Troops sign.  And the last picture is one of our decorated tree.

Thanks again for everything!

Sincerely,
Melissa

My family and I live in Fort Benning, Georgia and we were fortunate enough to receive one of the trees donated by Trees for Troops.  I just wanted to say thank you for your kind note inside the card and thank you for the beautiful tree.  I must say that the personal letter inside as well as the tree is very much appreciated.   My husband is an SFC in the US Army and is currently deployed over Christmas.  Our children ages 8 and 5 had a wonderful time decorating the Christmas tree tonight and I told them about how we received the tree from the Trees for Troops.  My 8 year old daughter, said "Wow, that was awesome that someone thought about our family during Christmas."  

The holidays are hard on every military family but especially on the children.  As a parent, it always warms your heart to see your children "grateful" for what someone has done for you.  I told our kids that the greatest gift someone could give you is "time" and you, Mr. Holland, took the time to personally hand write a note to the family who received this tree.  Also, we appreciate the the companies and employees who donated their time and money and the foundation who took the time to organize the Trees for Troops.   We hope that your family has a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Thank you again for thinking about us.

Allison
Ft. Benning, GA

We usually cut down our own tree each year as a family tradition.  This year just got away from us and we ran out of time to do this.  I told my husband to check out the Trees for Troops as this was the easiset solution for us at the time.  We weren't expecting anything great, but at least we'd have a live tree.

Well, our expectations were not just exceeded, they were blown out of the water!  The tree was gorgeous,  (probably better than anything we could have found on the tree farms) fragrant and fit perfectly in our lving room. Many thanks to the folks there at Trees for Troops.  We will surely be singing your praisese next year!

Ann, Jim and Colin

PS This picture was talen on January 4th! The tree was still beautiful.

Jan. 6 2008

To Trees for Troops,

We received one of the beautiful trees you so generously donated to the Ft. Bliss ACS.  We had an unexpected death in the family, a grandfather, just before Thanksgiving, and spent over $4,000 to return to the New England area to attend the funeral.  My husband, stationed in Korea, was in So. Carolina attending a 3 month course to re class his position in the military.  This, though less expensive than travel from Korea, still put a bit of debt on our shoulders.  Upon returning to Fort Bliss, we learned that your organization was donating Christmas trees to the "Waiting Families".  We have always had a real tree for the children, ages 4 & 5, and thought we were going to use our little 3 ft artificial one this year, due to the financial debt we just accrued. 

So, Thank You, and please except our gratitude for your generosity.

Sincerely,

The Walters Family
Fort Bliss, El Paso Texas

We would have sent a photo, but we do not own a digital camera.....

I couldn’t find another way to contact you, so I used this email. I hope you don’t mind.

Up until this morning, I had never heard of Trees for Troops or The Christmas Spirit Foundation. My husband deployed for Iraq one month ago Monday, and money has been tight for us because I have been going to college to become a Registered Nurse (I graduate in May….yippee!!). My children had asked me for a live tree this year, and my heart sank because I knew we wouldn’t be able to afford one….But then….this morning, I saw a beautiful Christmas tree in a neighbor’s yard. It was packaged up like it had been delivered, or perhaps not even wanted. I asked her (my neighbor) if I could have it and she said that I was welcome to it.

The attached card reads “Happy holidays from Trees for Troops” and inside there is a message of glad tidings from Service Supply Limited, Inc. in Columbus OH. Your kindness has trickled down to my little corner of the world, and I thank you for it. I had one wish this Christmas, and you made it come true. Nothing ever happens by coincidence. I have no idea how this tree got here, but it did, and I am so very thankful. God bless you for your kindness and may He keep you in His grace.

Merry Christmas,

Stella
Fort Hood, TX  

 Hello, This is Paige and I couldn't find the appropriate way to send our thank-you so I hope this gets to the right folks.

I'm a mother of four with a lot to be thankful for.  I have happily accepted words of thanks for my husband's military service in the past.  This year, Christmas fell in the middle of a fifteen month deployment, and somehow the free tree felt like a real thank-you.  The house still smells like Christmas tree as we come close to welcoming 2008.  The picture is the one we e-mailed to Daddy for Christmas.

Thank- You,

Paige

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