A West Chester University student sent this poem in tribute to our troops at Christmas. Its so refreshing to see how much this college student appreciates those who serve in our military. He’s a junior and his “soldier’s poem” is terrific.

Mr. Davis, I was inspired to write a poem for Christmas praising America and our troops that I would like to share with you and the Sheepdogs. I don’t write poems ever but I love America and our troops so much that this one just seemed to write itself. Have a great Christmas!

A Patriotic Christmas
By: Bill Hanrahan

The United States of America will succeed
Even if it means we have to bleed
Our cause is just
and victory is a must
For success we will pray
God bless the United States of America today

Thanks Bill – your poem is amazing. At a time when so many young people look at athletes or performers as “heroes”, its nice to know that some students at West Chester University know who our real heroes are. I’m sure the troops and their families will appreciate your poem. I know I do.

What a Christmas present! We were thrilled and honored to have 3 local soldiers stop by and say hello.

The soldiers are Christopher, a Marine private who recently graduated from Boot Camp, John, an Army private who recently graduated from Boot Camp, and Abbey, a Junior at West Point. In addition, Christopher’s brother Ben, (in red ballcap) also came, he will be going to Marine Corps OCS upon graduation from college in a few months.

These young men and woman are the very best of us, the best of America. You can see the confidence in their eyes and how they take great pride in their service. We respect and admire them and their families so much.

At the end, we sang the National Anthem, recited the Pledge of Alligiance to the Flag, said the Lord’s Prayer for our troops and country, and sang “Silent Night” to remember that we hope our troops, wherever they are, on patrol or on watch, will have a quiet calm peaceful night.

Special thanks to all who came out, especially our three local soldiers. May they have the power, courage, and wisdom to complete their training and missions with success. We are so proud of you and grateful for your service to our country.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TROOPS! MERRY CHRISTMAS MILITARY FAMILIES! GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Let Freedom Ring and the American Sheepdogs sponsored the 2nd annual “Community Christmas Carol Sing-a-long” at the courthouse in West Chester on Friday Dec 24th.

A large crowd of people gathered and exactly at noon we started singing. We had song booklets and sang a dozen Christmas Carols, it lasted about 40 minutes. Many passerbys stopped and joined in. We had about 100 altogether and sounded heavenly.

Special thanks to Colin Hanna, Santa Claus, and all the volunteers who passed out fliers.

Thanks to Skye for the photos.

We collected goodies and items for our troops. Altogether, the Sheepdogs currently have 16 children that are in the service. The boxes were crammed with all kinds of stuff, books, CDs, DVDs, religious medals and prayer cards, snacks, toiletries, socks and love. We will send them to our Sheepdog troops, wherever they are – in the US, overseas, and on ships. Its a blessing for us to do this and we are sure our loved ones will feel the pride we have for them when they open their boxes. Thanks to everyone for contributing and making this happen, especially our Blue Star Moms.

My daughter, Crystal, got engaged. She’s a psychological therapist, treating children and he’s a special education teacher. Rick asked for my blessing the day before Christmas Eve and I was happy to give it because he loves her and I know he will protect and take care of her the way all dads want for their daughters.   They’ve been sweathearts since high school and have survived college and masters degrees.  We are proud and happy to have Rick as part of our family.  We’re all very close, my daughter brought me every joy I could ever have and now she brought the son I never had.

At our family Christmas, I wanted to take a picture of them, and Rick was pretending he was yawning, Crystal didn’t like it. He’s gonna be fun.

Crystal shows the ring to her aunt and poses with her grandmom.

Families are able to have good times together because our troops, past and present, sacrifice their time and lives for us. We always remember that.

I got a Snuggie and a pair of sunglasses that you wear over your glasses.  The snuggie came with a book light.

They were just what I wanted.

I hope everyone got what they wanted and were able to celebrate with family and friends.  Here’s a picture of me and my daughter Crystal and her boyfriend Rick. The other guy is Vince (also known as “The Real Guido”). He’s famous for being a local actor and he’s often on the Dom Giordano radio show giving movie insights and opinions, he’s in a lot of films and he’s also the uncle of Rick. He’s a great guy and a lot of fun.

Nothing beats family.  

Our troops sacrifice their tomorrows so we can enjoy our todays.

Four days ago, Colin Hanna called me and said, “I was thinking about organizing a Christmas Carol Sing-Along at the Courthouse for noon on Christmas Eve, what do you think?” and I said, “Its a great idea, I’m sure we could get a decent turnout.” So Colin found some carols, he said, “I want to sing carols, not just songs, because carols are based more on the true meaning of Christmas and God’s gift to us with the birth of His Son.”  We had a 12-page booklet made and got the word out.  We were hoping for 25 people, but we got triple that. It was a perfect day, attended by many families with children. We met many new friends. People driving by waved and smiled. At the red light, some rolled down their window to sing along with us. 

 Special thanks to the Daily Local for covering the event with some nice pictures.  To read the story in the Daily Local, CLICK HERE.

Thanks to everyone who came. Our collective voices filled the winter air and it sounded heavenly. Afterwards I had lunch with Colin Hanna, his wife Pricey, and their son Colin, who is visting from Seattle. 

May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and lets pray that there be true “peace on earth”, here in America and around the world.

UPDATE – Skye brought her video camera along and taped the end, when we sang “Silent Night”. 

Thank you very much Skye! It’s beautiful.

You can watch it on her blog Midnight Blue. CLICK HERE.