Christmas/New Year's Ideas

Holiday Dinner

You can either use the Thanksgiving Dinner or try a few variations for a Winter Holiday Meal for our soldiers.

Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes*
Creamed Spinach*
Mandarin Oranges*
Assorted Cookies/Fruit Bars

(*These items replace the dressing, green bean casserole, yams, and cranberries.)

Mashed Potatoes--Idahoan Brand has packages which only require the addition of water.

Creamed Spinach and Cheese--Use 3 cans of spinach (drained very well) to 1 can Cheddar Cheese soup.

Holiday Drink Ideas

Spiced Apple Cider
Hot Chocolate with marshmallows
EggNog (Borden makes a canned EggNog which is pretty good even at room temperature. If you can't find it in your grocery store, you can order it online.)

Appetizers

Mixed Nuts
Goldfish Crackers
Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves)
Hummus (Garbanzo Bean Dip)
Velveeta and crackers
Hickory Farms makes several cheeses which don't need to be refrigerated until opened.
Rondele also has an herb cheese spread
Smoked oysters
Olives

White Elephant Gift Exchange

Some groups of soldiers have posted that they are looking for entertainment--others have very long work days, so this may not be suitable for all groups.

Dollar stores are a great source small stocking stuffers. Some of the items I found were calendars, notebooks, post-it note cubes, computer monitor wipes, mini-photo albums (for storing pictures from home), plastic frames for pictures, knife sharpening stone, plastic snack boxes, shoe shine kits, disposable cameras, and a mini-electronics tool kit.

Wrap all of the items. (I put together a few "extras".) You might also include some paper, scissors and tape in case they need to add a few things depending upon numbers.

They can either choose a wrapped present and exchange if they want to or follow the more traditional "entertainment version".

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