Decking the Halls with Wreaths Across America

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(Edited)



"The annual event was started in 1992 when Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, teamed up with former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine.) to place a surplus of wreaths he had at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery that had been receiving fewer visitors. The event gained national attention in 2005 when a photo of the stones at Arlington, adorned with wreaths, went viral online."

It was cold. It was raining. To be fair, it could have been snowing, or the wind could be howling. This morning, while all was calm and not too bright, many people, they numbered in the thousands, lined up at the gates of Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath on the tombstones of military veterans, a small gesture to honor them.

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This is Arlington National Cemetery, located just outside of Washington, DC and I would say that it is a tradition of sorts, unknowingly started by one man, a simple gesture to show his gratitude and has grown into an annual event. Thank you, Wreaths Across America for helping me honor those, some near and dear to my heart.

As an aside, this same scene takes place at cemeteries across our nation, honoring our veterans.


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"When we lay wreaths on veterans' graves, we say their names. We encourage every volunteer who places a wreath on a veteran's grave to say that the veteran's name aloud and take a moment to thank them for their service to our country. It's a small act that goes a long way toward keeping the memory of our veterans alive."

"We are not here to “decorate graves." We're here to remember not their deaths, but their lives." Karen Worcester, Executive Director of Wreaths Across America

It is an honor to be a part of this. This will stay with me and lay upon my heart.

Always and forever. God bless them all.


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“In many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. There is no better time to express our appreciation than during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.” - Wreaths Across America

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A few years back, there were copious amounts of wreaths and Christmas decorations made by people and families that loved and lost scattered about those hallowed grounds. What a fitting way to honor our fallen troops during Christmastime, and what a humbling reminder of just how big their sacrifices were. Over time, it got messy, it got rained on, the litter piled up. Much like life itself, no?

It tore me up inside to watch it come down before its time. But, then, time is not our own, so who is to say.

So much love...So much love.

It pulled at my heart and I wept until I couldn't. Then I wept again.


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Today is a #BeautifulSunday by @Ace108, where we share our day in the most possibly beautiful way that we can. So a day steeped in decorating and reflection, definitely a #SublimeSunday in the making, by the Meister of my morning, @c0ff33a. I do love my @c0ff33 and he likes eclectic! A match made in heaven.


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Do you have a dream, where blue is warm and the tree is not bare?
Do you?
Do you have a dream?
Will we enter this space, this place so blue
Where the colors are warm
And the place is too?
Do you have a dream?

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I dream of the day when I can see you, hold your beautiful face with my hands and kiss those sweet, sweet lips that are mine. To touch the reality that has touched my heart…I roll over, and the moment takes its escape.
Again

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The whispered words between the space
Embrace the wings of words unsaid
Not long enough and you were gone
My heart lay watching, from afar
No haste
To say goodbye
Secret intentions to part with grace
Vanishing yet, to another place
Leaving the words behind

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They want to be picked. They yearn to be loved. Shouldn't we all want to be? There must be a flower. Always a flower.Thank you for stopping by and sharing my #BeautifulSunday and #SublimeSunday. I want to thank both @Ace108 and @c0ff33a for hosting these tags.


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The gift of love.
The gift of peace.
The gift of happiness.
May all these be yours at Christmas.

May the joy continue to radiate in your lives,
long after the season is gone, gone, gone.
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Love to all, Denise



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I dedicate this post to all of you. You bring joy to my soul and spread your love across the world. For this, I thank you. And just like that, these musings are done...and just so you know, although we are throwing glitter around the globe, I can guarantee you that there is still a little left to take us through Christmas. Have a most fabulous day!

Thank you for visiting my post 💖 Because of you, I come back to post again and again, I am encouraged by you, for the time you take to visit, comment or even upvote. For all of these reasons, I am eternally grateful. Don't ever forget what a wonderful world we live in, people.Some days, it is not as easy to see, how wonderful it really is. Kindness counts. Wherever you go, whatever you do.

We Are The World

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day-by-day
That someone, somewhere soon make a change
We're all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me
Oh, send them your heart
So they know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
And so we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
Oh, there's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well let us realize
Oh, that a change can only come
When we stand together as one, yeah, yeah, yeah

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me


#Steemusa is a growing community of quality-content people from the United States or those living here. Check us out on Discord!

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See here today, the Tweet from Arlington National Cemetery

https://twitter.com/ArlingtonNatl/status/1206007342430609408

sublimesunday oc posh neoxian veterans powerhousecreatives creativecoin beautifulsunday
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86 comments
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Hi @dswigle, a free $trendotoken from the TULIP Mania Game!
Round 3 will start soon and full details will follow. Thanks for playing!

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Bang, I did it again... I just resteemed your post!
Week 14 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
Pixresteemer is also listed as promoter on The Steemians Directory
!DERANGED
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deranged You just received DERANGED @dswigle Keep up the great work, view all your tokens at steem-engine.com

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Sad... but it's a nice gesture.
Have a good Sunday

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Such a bittersweet service. Thank you so much for doing it. I know it must be quite hard both physically and emotionally. I know it would be for me. You are the best.

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I don't think most think of it in terms of hard or easy but are driven to do it. For whatever reason, or perhaps no reason at all, other than to serve.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving your kind words behind.

!tip

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What a wonderful way to pay respect and make things nice for the holidays.

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I agree, it a nice way to serve those who have served us. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a kind comment behind.

!tip

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Always and forever, god bless all them. ❤😊.thanks for share.

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Thank you for coming, always leaving a kind comment behind. Have a great day!

!tip

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Beautiful post, @dswigle. What an amazing tribute to our our lost veterans. ❤️

!tip

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Thank you so much for stopping by and saying hello @jayna. It is always full of volunteers just waiting for their turn to honor them.

Have an amazing Sunday!

!tip

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@dswigle,

Being a VET this is also close to my heart... and you know, really, it's not even about being a VET* but just a good person. Remembering how many have, or still are, giving their time, lives so that we can have what everyone wants... freedom. This was a wonderful post, and I thank you for sharing it...

@alliedforces curate2

@tipu curate

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Thank you, Wes! @wesphilbin

Thank you for your service! It really isn't about being a veteran, although this post is exactly that. :) But, of course, being a good person is always and forever something we can all strive for. And you do exactly that, every day. Which is pretty amazing with all that you do.

So, I thank you and thank you for the curating and just for stopping in and saying hello, leaving your kind comment behind.

Have an amazing week ahead!

!tip .20

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@untersatz curate

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This post has been upvoted by witness @untersatz. You've done a great job!
The @untersatz witness and manual curation is under the guidance of @contrabourdon and @organduo.
Current VP: 97.14%

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Thank you for the upvote @untersatz! Much appreciated!

!tip

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You're welcome. Please consider voting me as witness :) Let's check your current votes !witness-vote-check dswigle

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@dswigle, these witnesses you have voted for have retired (or are running a zombie server):

partiko, steem-bounty


You have 0 witness votes left to use.

You are voting for: actifit, arcange, ats-witness, ausbitbank, bitrocker2020, blockbrothers, blocktrades, busy.witness, c0ff33a, coingecko, curie, dsound, followbtcnews, good-karma, guiltyparties, helpie, jesta, kevinwong, neoxian, ocd-witness, oracle-d, partiko, patrice, pharesim, qurator, someguy123, steem-bounty, steemitboard, steempeak, steempress.

Powered by witness untersatz!

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Thank you! I will be looking into it !! I appreciate your looking at it for me.

Have a good night!

!tip

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Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


helpiecake

Manually curated by @wesphilbin.


@helpie is a Community Witness.

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Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
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You have been curated by @wesphilbin on behalf of Inner Blocks: a community encouraging first hand content, with each individual living their best life, and being responsible for their own well being. #innerblocks Check it out at @innerblocks for the latest information and community updates, or to show your support via delegation.
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This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account.
If you are a community leader and/or contest organizer, please join the Discord and let us know you if you would like to promote the posting of your community or contest.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here
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Nice shots and honorable place for your country. Love for all, hatred for none - its my opinion.

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Hi @dswigle. I've never heard about this event. Such a beautiful gesture. The owners of the wreath company are wonderful individuals. You can tell a person's heart by their actions.

Anything done for veterans is a great gesture for their sacrifice to their country.

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Hi @justclickindiva

I agree with you on that count. I cannot do enough for veterans. There is no repayment for the freedoms we enjoy. The event has been going on for a while and now literally thousands show up to lay a wreath. The owner and wife of the company are heroes in my book. They have hearts of gold.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your generous comment. Have a great week ahead!

!tip

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Truly appreciate the tip. Have a great start to next week. take care.

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Such a powerful, touching and yet heart warming post

this line

"We are not here to “decorate graves." We're here to remember not their deaths, but their lives."
Really touched me a lot as does this tradition and the images are so powerful and evocative

!trdo
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Thank you so much. You are always so generous with your comments and I thank you for that. There are literally thousands of people that show up to help in anything for the veterans. That is what keeps me warm at night. Knowing that people care so much.

Thank you again. And again. Have a most wonderful week ahead.

!tip .20

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I just saw a post yesterday that the wreaths across America also happens here in Milford with Wreaths layed at our local cemeteries, which with the way our city is I should not have been surprised about

you to have a wonderful week

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As an army vet that's lost friends at war.. I just want to say thank you so much for this. It means a lot.

!trdo
!giphy honorable

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Thank you for your service, Lee! @justlee87 It takes a special person to join the military. This small gesture draws thousands of people who want to be a part of it.

It is amazing. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your words. Have an amazing week ahead.

!tip

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I want to thank you so much for the generous upvote @theycallmedan ! It was a huge surprise and totally made my week. So thank you, truly, for that. It was like having a visit from Santa Claus.

Thank you for all you do to make this platform a better place. Have an amazing week ahead!

!tip .20

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What a beautiful post, Denise. 💗 It’s a wonderful gesture to remember, at this holy season, those who served and died for their country. ✝️ They are gone from this earth but never forgotten. 💝

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Thank you so much, Jo. It actually happens in 2100 cemeteries across the nation, both private and National. They try to remember all the Veterans. It says something that over 100,000 people donate their time to do this.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

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Congratulations @dswigle!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:

  • Comments - Ranked 3 with 75 comments
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Thank you for the mention on the #Hit-Parade @Arcange! I find it an honor to be on your list and it always makes my day when it happens.

I would like to take the time to thank you for your work for the Steem community. It is noticed and appreciated! Thank you again!

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Thank you Denise for your patriotism, and your respect for our military and our veterans. For this your service to honor them, I salute you!

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Thank you so much @free-reign! I suspect that you are a veteran, is that so? I have to say that usually, I can spot one from afar.

It is always a powerful site to me, all those graves coved in a wreath. The one that touched me was the kissing the headstone, although to be fair, that was not taken last weekend, but, it fit nonetheless.

And thank you for your kind words.

!tip .20

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(Edited)

Yep, US Army enlistee, although I wasn't a career service member. I was in for 3 years but became eligible for and got a nearly a 6 month early out because I wasn't interested in reenlisting. I was quite happy with that at the time. I served a total of 2 years, 6 months and 22 days.

The 22 days were added on after I'd come home for Christmas on a 30 special leave, and overstayed at home a few extra days. :)

Arlington is a special place. But you know that. Respect.

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As a veteran, I am truly touched and was unaware of this. Thank you! I know my battle buddies would be proud of this and gracious as well. I spend every season thinking of them and their families. It's nice to know someone else does too. 🙂

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