Sometimes the most difficult part of having a loved one serving overseas is missing them for holidays and other special occasions. However, military families in the San Diego area who had a family member abroad during Christmas recently got a chance to make up for lost time, ABC affiliate KGTV reports.
The sixth annual Christmas You Missed event attracted more than 650 people, and despite the weather being a bit warmer than in December, it had all the trappings of the holiday. The timing was certainly right, as around 3,800 San Diego-based soldiers returned home from a seven-month deployment last week.
"They're out serving overseas for us, and sacrificing their family time for us, so this is a way for us to give back and say 'We want you guys to have those memories,'" Cat Quirk from the San Diego Armed Forces YMCA told the news channel.
Similar events may help ease the burden of having a loved one deployed overseas. According to the National Military Family Association, there are currently more than 1.9 million people with a family member in active duty service.