Marines of Headquarters Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 37, throw candy from their “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” float during the Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Christmas parade, Dec. 7, 2007. Sgt. Cody Perry said the float was his idea and it took the unit about three weeks to turn the up-armored 7-ton truck into a reindeer. “It was definitely worth it,” he said. The float won third place. (Cindy Fisher/Stars and Stripes)

Wounded service members at the 7th General Hospital in England raise a nonalcoholic toast to the impending arrival of what would be the last year of World War II, Dec. 31, 1944. When the photo ran in the Stars and Stripes, London edition issue of Jan. 2, 1945, the original caption read: “This is the sober toast to the New Year by men who know what life is like on the Western Front — GIs recuperating from wounds in the general hospital in England. The beverage in those massive mugs is milk. Yes, we said milk.” (Stars and Stripes)

Senior Airman Walter Frank makes a final check of the Operation Christmas Drop donation boxes before a flight over the Northern Mariana Islands, Dec. 9, 2018. The black bags atop the boxes contain parachutes. (Caitlin Doornbos/Stars and Stripes)

Spc. Adam Wells, 25, an armament soldier with the 4th Battalion (Attack Reconnaissance), 4th Aviation Regiment, watches as celebrities inspect his AH-64 Apache attack helicopter at a Christmas event with the USO on Dec. 24, 2018, at Camp Dahlke West in Afghanistan. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

1st Lt. Hannah Levine of Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment found what she described as the one living tree at the remote Camp Dahlke West in Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 2018. She had the tree chopped down and decorated it. “I was raised in a family where we don’t believe in fake Christmas trees,” said Levine, 24, of Sugarloaf, Pa. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

A Christmas cake at the chow hall on the Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Dec. 25, 2015. (Heath Druzin/Stars and Stripes)

Master Sgt. Tamara Gregory decorates a Christmas tree in Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, a former residence of Saddam Hussein, on Dec. 13, 2006. Gregory and a coworker, Chief Petty Officer Phillis Noiseaux, spearheaded the operation to put the tree in the palace. Both were assigned to the Secretary of the Combined Joint Staff, Multi National Force — Iraq. Gregory got the decorations while home on rest and recuperation leave, but the tree, that’s been here a long time and is falling apart, Noiseaux said. “Regardless, we’re going to piece this tree together.” Across the way from the tree is a menorah. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)

Toys for Tots coordinator Staff Sgt. Christopher Rosenfelt takes a handful of toys from area Latino Unidos members Petty Officer 1st Class Luis Lujan (left) and Lt. j.g. Rudy Madrid at the base exchange in Naples, Italy, on Dec. 7, 2004. Latinos Unidos, a Hispanic cultural organization, donated $500 worth of toys to the local Toys for Tots program. While there, Rosenfelt also received a $300 donation from local Federal Express and Boeing employees. Donations to the Naples Toys for Tots program were given to military families needing help during the holidays and local orphanages. (Jason Chudy/Stars and Stripes)

Six-year-old Selma Mesic, a Muslim refugee living near Camp Comanche in Bosnia and Herzegovina, receives Christmas gifts from Santa Claus, also known as Sgt. Troy Patterson of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Brigade, on Dec. 25, 2001. (Ivana Avramovic/Stars and Stripes)

Despite living in a war zone, Marines at Camp Rhino, Afghanistan, display their holiday spirit, Dec. 12, 2001. The desert version of a Christmas tree — dried brush decorated with bits of rope and red-and-white beaded candy cane, complete with a star on top — provided a quirky backdrop for the troops’ morning briefings. The Marines at Camp Rhino were the first major U.S. ground component in the war in Afghanistan. (Tim Flack/Stars and Stripes)

Charles, 3, (left) seems a little less happy to see Santa than his 8-month old sister Elizabeth, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 11, 1949. The children of Sgt. 1st Class and Mrs. Thomas Garefino, 24th Base Post Office, did not want to entrust their Christmas wishes to the post office and came to whisper them into Saint Nick’s ear themselves. (Gordon Curvan/Stars and Stripes)

Pfc. Derik Briskey, left, 21, and Sgt. Justin Caughey, 26, reservists with Company B, 6th Engineer Support Battalion serving in Iraq with the 9th Engineer Support Battalion out of Okinawa, build a gingerbread house complete with a protective Hesco barrier surrounding the front (made from Scrabble letters spelling “Hesco”), Dec. 24, 2006. But the house didn’t make it to completion; the roof collapsed. “I guess we can eat the glue now,” Briskey, wearing reindeer ears, said, grabbing the icing. (Megan McCloskey/Stars and Stripes)

Gunnery Sgt. Robert Ruiz, in the Santa hat, 1st Sgt. Melvin Lewis, center, and Gunnery Sgt. William Neal serve Christmas dinner at the chow hall at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, Dec. 25, 2006. Noncommissioned officers and officers of the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, from Okinawa, pulled duty at the dining facilities for the holdiay meal. (Megan McCloskey/Stars and Stripes)

Getting into the mood for the Christmas season, this USO group puts special touches to holiday decorations at the Seoul USO, Dec. 23, 1995. They are, from left, Pfc. Robert Mack, Headquarters Company, 1st Battle Group, 17th Infantry, 7th Division; Edna Rae Sedwell, Methodist Mission, and George Engel, wife of the USO director. (Tom Gregory/Stars and Stripes)

Marines got into the Christmas spirit at Camp Kinser’s parade in Okinawa, Japan, Dec. 1, 2004, as they decorated this Humvee and trailer for the occasion. (Fred Zimmerman/Stars and Stripes)

A live turkey was sent as a Christmas present to the Green Berets of Detachment 35, “B” Company, 5th Special Forces Group at Nahon Cho, South Vietnam, Dec. 21, 1968. Hopefully, they knew what to do with it. (James Linn/Stars and Stripes)

Christmas lights glow on a 35-foot tree at Yongsan Main Post in South Korea after they were turned on by Lt. Col. Donal Miller, commander, U.S. Army Garrison, Dec. 20, 1970. (Tae Won Chung/Stars and Stripes)

Christmas carolers brighten spirits at Djibouti’s Camp Lemonier on Dec. 22, 2006. Some 1,500 airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines would spend the holidays in the Horn of Africa that year. (Monte Morin/Stars and Stripes)

The “Santabou,” actually an Air Force C7 “Caribou,” serves as Santa’s sleigh as the Old Man makes his appearance at Nahon Cho, Vietnam, Dec. 21, 1968. Santa Claus waves from the cockpit as his “sled” lands at Nahon Cho, home of Detachment 35, “B” Company, 5th Special Forces Group, 80 miles northeast of Saigon. The Air Force lent Santa six C7 Caribou cargo planes for his deliveries in Vietnam. The planes came with the good wishes of the men of the 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing headquartered at Cam Ranh Bay. The airmen even decorated the planes, putting a large painting of Santa on each of their noses and renamed the planes “Santabous.” The planes enabled Santa to visit some 50 isolated outposts, from Dec. 24 until late in the afternoon Christmas day. (James Linn/Stars and Stripes)

Santa Claus hands out presents to children, dependents of South Vietnamese Special Forces soldiers stationed at Nahon Cho, Vietnam, Dec. 21, 1968. Some Montegnard children from the area also joined in the fun. (James Linn/Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers make their way through holiday decorations Dec. 19, 2011, at the dining facility at Forward Operating Base Base Pasab in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. (Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)