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First Christmas

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Contributed by: Bob Rotruck on 12/13/2007

THE LANDLOCKED SAILOR
By Bob Rotruck, CWO3, USN (ret)
Castle Rock, Colorado

The Christmas of 1960 holds a special place in my heart. I had been in the Navy for about a year and a half. I married my high school sweetheart June 19, 1960, while I was on leave and between duty stations.

I was headed for Argentia, Newfoundland, an island province of Canada off of the northeastern coast of the United States. I was able to secure a small apartment off of the base in a little fishing village called Placentia. I was not a high enough pay grade to get on the list for base housing at the Naval Station.

I brought my new bride there about October. We were from a small town in Maryland and she had never been further from home than Hanover, PA which was about sixty miles from our town. So here was this innocent girl traveling a couple of thousand miles from home by herself.

The military transport plane was late arriving from Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, MD. So I had gone back to our little apartment and waited on a phone call (neighbors phone) that she had arrived. Of course, when she got to the airfield, I was no where to be found.

Talk about being a little scared! I soon caught up with her and explained what had happened. She was just glad to see a friendly face in this strange land her new husband had brought her to.

We quickly settled in our cozy one bedroom apartment. Did I mention that we shared a bathroom with another couple in a one bedroom apartment? Nice! However, we became accustomed to our new digs and began to make friends who were mostly military folks just like us.

Christmas was fast approaching and we certainly didn't have the money to fly home for the holidays, since I was making a whopping ninety-six dollars a month. Fortunately, our basic allowance for quarters, commuted rations, and crew member flight pay all kicked in, so we weren't starving to death.

We decided that we should try to have our first Christmas tree, but we couldn't afford to buy one. On a cold, blustery winter day, we trudged up a hillside and found a perfect little pine tree. We cut it down and dragged it down the hill to our little abode. I built a wooden stand for it.

We splurged and bought two strings of lights, a couple of boxes of glass Christmas balls, a box of ceramic bells (we still have them), and some shiny icicles. We hung some homemade ornaments and anything else we could find that made our little tree look more like home. It was beautiful and we were together and the spirit of Christmas was among us.

That was a great first Christmas!

Fair winds and smooth seas!

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: Michael Rule

posted on 12/13/2007 @ 9:44:43 PM

Rated Story

Great story, great writing! I enjoyed this story. it's fun to hear everybodies Christmas story, kinda puts things where they should be for the holidayz

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Submitted By: M Jean Erving

posted on 12/13/2007 @ 8:16:18 PM

Rated Story

WELL WRITTEN. ACTUALLY FEEL THE COLD OF THE REGION/SEASON, BUT WARMTH OF HEARTFELT LOVE OF THEIR FIRST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER. THANKS FOR SHARING SOMETHING POSITIVE THE WORLD SO NEEDS TO HEAR.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Bob Rotruck

Castle Rock , CO

Bob Rotruck has posted 61 stories and 2 comments since joining on 7/26/2006. Bob Rotruck 's average story rating is 4.89.

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