A Thanksgiving Care Package…From the Dog

Let’s be honest for a second: deployments suck. There isn’t one single thing that’s good about them. People may say the extra money (and no tax) is pretty good, but I’d personally rather go to sleep and wake up next to my husband every day than get a few extra dollars in the bank. 

I keep extra busy when he’s away and sometimes my husband comments that I’m having more fun when he’s gone than when he’s home. That’s not entirely true—I stay busy because I have to. Staying busy and always having something to do keeps me sane, because it’s when I’m not busy that I start missing him and feeling sorry for our situation. It’s when I’m alone that the green-eyed monster creeps up and gets jealous of families that are together. I even have to sometimes plan out my shopping days at the commissary so I don’t see too many families out shopping together. It’s the little things that can make me miss him the most.

But just as much as I miss him here, I know he’s missing everything over there. He misses me and this pregnancy. He misses our home, Bella, a home-cooked meal, birthday celebrations, and holidays. He misses normalcy. It can’t be fun to be around the same group of guys (and gals) every single day for 10+ hours a day for more than half a year!

So in order to keep me busy and to give him a break in his redundant schedule, I send him care packages. I’ve been trying to send at least one a month, and luckily the holidays make it easy as far as themes go. 

He got two packages in November—one for his birthday and one for Thanksgiving. When I was trying to figure out what to send for Thanksgiving, I was at a loss. While it’s core is about giving thanks, Thanksgiving revolves around food, and you can’t exactly send a turkey and all the fixin’s to the desert. 

But then I thought of something…a way I could send him a turkey and all the yummy side dishes! I remembered walking around Target with him a couple years ago and seeing this on the end of one of the aisles in the pet section. We talked about getting it for Bella and then decided against it at the last minute.

source

I called my mom and explained what I needed and she went to Target to look for it! Luckily, they had it again this year, so she brought it out here with her. 

Obviously that “dinner” is for the dog, so I rolled with the idea and decided to send my husband a Thanksgiving box…from Bella!

I had a dog bone cookie cutter and a turkey cookie cutter, so I went to town and made some cookies! I really didn’t feel like making sugar cookies, so I opened up my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and found she had a recipe for Mocha Cookies. Perfecto! My mom helped me roll and cut the shapes out while she was here! 

 

I also sent him some good ol’ Puppy Chow! I find it ironic that almost everything I Bella sent, she couldn’t eat since it all contained chocolate. Sorry, Bella! 

 

The darn customs form told him what was in it! He said he never reads them, but that’s clearly a LIE! Heh. He also meant “baked” not “backed.” I promise he can spell! I also promise that he doesn’t send every email in all CAPS!