A 6’5″ Marine preparing for his first deployment got one extraordinary Saturday before leaving — his family celebrated every major holiday of the year in a single day.
Andrew, a Marine about to deploy for 13 months, had spent over a year at Quantico near his sister Madeline’s house, getting home-cooked meals and spending time with his godson. When the time came for him to move to his new base across the country, the family worried about him missing holidays while overseas.
Holiday Day was born.
Together with her parents, Madeline planned one glorious Saturday during Andrew’s predeployment leave to celebrate New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all at once.
“Happy New Year!” we yelled. He broke into an embarrassed, lopsided smile. “We’re doing all the holidays?” He was onto us.
The surprise started at 9 a.m. when family members awkwardly followed Andrew to the bathroom after he woke up and assaulted him with noise makers the moment he opened the door. They moved downstairs for mimosas and 2027 glasses, then quickly shifted to Valentine’s with a breakfast cake decorated with Trader Joe’s candy hearts.
For Easter, the women scattered plastic eggs and candy around the neighborhood pool while the men distracted Andrew. The hunt mainly consisted of Madeline’s four-year-old grabbing and dropping cheap plastic eggs, but the family called it a success.
St. Patrick’s Day brought all 11 family members to a local Irish restaurant, where they crowded around a massive table sharing Scotch eggs and corned beef. They ordered Guinness and attempted to “split the G” — drinking until you hit the middle of the G on the glass. A sign on the wall read “Countdown to St. Paddy’s Day: 187 days!” For them, it was zero.
Then came Halloween — and tears.
Madeline’s mom had emailed the neighborhood asking if anyone wanted to participate in trick-or-treating. She offered to provide the candy; neighbors just needed to be home around 4 p.m. to hand it out.
Thirteen households in the neighborhood where Andrew grew up offered to give out candy. Some provided their own. Many houses were decorated with pumpkins or American flags. One family put out their blow-up dragon. Another gave out crayons — a reference to the Marine Corps crayon-eating joke. One father came running out of his house to intercept Andrew and hand him a card. Another parent invited the sweating, costumed group to raid her garage fridge for drinks.
Andrew dressed as a reindeer.
Thanksgiving proved the toughest to pull off logistically. Finding a whole turkey off-season isn’t easy. When friends showed off their ice chest stocked by a local farm, including two turkeys, Madeline’s mom jumped at the chance. After explaining what it was for, the friends offered to smoke a turkey themselves and deliver it Saturday evening. It paired perfectly with early-season Costco pumpkin pie.
For Christmas, Andrew’s father handed him an axe. Barefoot and shirtless, Andrew chopped down a mid-sized evergreen growing too close to the fence. The tree fell with a gentle whoosh and was soon raised on a borrowed stand with mismatched lights. The family watched “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the porch until 9 p.m.
Then came the fireworks finale.
A family friend arrived with hundreds of dollars of fireworks and a homemade mortar rack. In the street in front of the house, the show was big, loud, and bright — careening dangerously close to the pine trees overhead.
Everything was fine until a box firework in the middle of the street fell on its side. Suddenly, bursts of light were shooting down the road, through the gap between neighbors’ houses, directly at Madeline’s other brother who was filming. Madeline and her sister-in-law stared in disbelief until they started running back toward the house. Andrew casually sauntered toward the box, which finally righted itself and closed out the show.
Some went to bed. Others stayed up to finish the Christmas movie. Madeline had voted for “Christmas with the Kranks,” but that was vetoed in favor of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
There was something Capra-esque about the way the community came together so enthusiastically to celebrate Andrew.
Some neighbors had known Andrew since Little League. Others maybe just wanted to support the troops. The family pulled off one of the best days ever thanks to dozens of generous people, many of whom will pray for Andrew when he deploys.
