Later today, tiny hearts across the country will pound with excitement, while bigger hearts pound with worry and concern.

Restless little legs and arms will torment their owners trying to forget that Christmas will come with the dawn of the new day. But before Santa can visit overnight, all of the children must be fast asleep. At least that&8217;s what momma always said.

It&8217;s funny thinking about how big a deal Christmas was when we were children.

It was THE day. The only one, perhaps with the exception of a birthday, that really mattered.

Probably half of the year was spent thinking about what to ask Santa for that year.

Countless hours of my childhood were spent toiling through the Sears Wish Books. Studying the newest toys. Dreaming about enormously wonderful and expensive toys that I knew were just what the catalog cover stated: a wish.

Nowadays, Christmas is less about things and more about people.

Last year was a great Christmas. My nephew, Matthew Cooper, returned from Iraq just in time for Christmas 2005. Matt was part of the 155th Battalion of the Mississippi Army National Guard serving in America&8217;s war on terror in Iraq.

Matt spent many months there; most were spent guarding a base in the middle of the desert.

Our family was blessed, however. Although I&8217;m pretty certain Matthew saw things there he wished he hadn&8217;t, Matthew returned without being physically injured.

And we didn&8217;t have to endure a Christmas without him, just one Matt-less Thanksgiving. And as Matt reminded us this Turkey Day, &8220;Last year Haley Barbour served me turkey; this is kind of a letdown.&8221;

He, of course, was jokingly referring to the governor&8217;s visit to the troops during Thanksgiving 2005.

Today, as Christmas nears, I can&8217;t help but let my mind wander halfway around the world to think about our troops.

Just like Matt, many of those soldiers are barely out of high school. Despite what they think, most are still pretty much kids &8212; kids manning machine gun nests and trying to make sense out of a senseless situation.

Lots of people are quick to express their opinions of the war in Iraq. But sometimes the soldiers seem lost in the discussion.

Hate the war, if you&8217;d like, but don&8217;t hate the warriors.

Unfortunately, the war doesn&8217;t get as much attention for many of us now, unless there&8217;s a personal connection.

I know from my perspective, the war was a bad situation at first, but it wasn&8217;t personal. Then, every news report became downright scary when Matt was shipped over.

Each tiny text message, e-mail or phone call became precious and reassuring. More worrisome than the lengths of time that passed between messages were the abrupt ends to some of those communications.

I remember the first time he signed off the computer with an instant message that read, &8220;Gotta go,&8221; followed by dead silence.

It was definitely one of the gulp-and-a-prayer moments, repeated again and again.

The worries and concerns that followed were very real. The base on which he lived and worked was regularly attacked by mortars and an occasional improvised explosive device was detonated at the perimeter, where Matt regularly stood guard.

And as we prepare to open Christmas presents and enjoy fellowship with our families, please remember there are more than 100,000 Matt&8217;s out there and all of their families have those gulp moments each week, if not each day.

Please remember those Americans working on our behalf here at home and abroad this holiday. Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

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