Ted Poe: “On Christmas Day, most of us will wake up with our families, the smell of Turkey in the oven, and homemade apple pie…”

“On Christmas Day, most of us will wake up with our families, the smell of Turkey in the oven, and homemade apple pie, but on the other side of the world, there are men and women who will wake up in the middle of the desert who are representing and protecting America's liberty. Those are our great American warriors. In 2005, I went to see our troops in Iraq during the Christmas season. Before I left, I asked my staff to get local schoolkids to make some handmade Christmas cards that I could give the troops, and I took about 5,000 Christmas cards to our troops in Iraq and in Kosovo. Every year since then, Mr. Speaker, kids in southeast Texas have been making Christmas cards and holiday cards for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and in other parts of the world. I want you to know that schoolchildren in southeast Texas made 69,000 handmade Christmas cards for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and in other parts of the world that will be taken to them this Christmas. I want to thank all of those numerous schools, teachers, and chambers of commerce in southeast Texas. God bless every one of you for helping our men and women overseas have a better connection with our families and our young people in this country and for letting them know that Texans are thinking of them. And that's just the way it is.…”