Another thing occurred to me today after our trip to check out the new PX. Like every other retailer, they have their holiday stuff out, and since we didn't have anything else to do, we decided to walk through and have a look.
There is something inherently charming about the PX. They have something for every military price range, and it's all lined up together in neat little rows on shelves that may remind you of Target or Wal Mart. There are things that are very cheap (for the lower-enlisted) which look right on these shelves. Right next to them, there are things that are mid-grade (for people like us), and is believable on those shelves as well. Then there is the stuff that's more in range for the very senior personnel, and it looks very out of place on the shelf right next to cheap and mid-grade stuff, but that's the whole thing about the PX. Where else can you find crappy plastic ornaments and intricate crystal ones side by side? Where else do you see tacky plastic turkey platters next to gorgeous Polish pottery (which I NEED to buy some of before Thak gets out... how can I be a soldier's wife for so many years and have no Polish pottery? That stuff is an Army tradition!)? It makes absolutely no sense to the rest of the world, but to us, it does. It's not Christmas without AAFES' mixed up holiday displays.
It's a little sad that this is our last holiday season with the Army. I love the Army at the holidays... the half-day schedules, the commanders being nice, the sales at the commissary, AAFES Christmas specials, the insane lighting displays in post housing where nobody pays their own electric bill... Even when Thak was deployed, the Army was nice at the holidays. I can't believe it's our last year. Thak's going to hate me by the time it's said and done. I'm going to drag him to the PX every chance I get until *I* get sick of it!
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