Our PCS timeline has been anything but… linear. It reads like my 2-year-old after that first piece of chocolate hits. We left the UK so my husband could start Officer Training School, and the kids and I moved in with my parents; nothing says “welcome to America” like adding two little kids and a newborn to your childhood bedroom. He graduated in April 2024, and by May, we were on our way to Enid, Oklahoma, for pilot training.
Training wrapped this past spring, and we went right into the military’s favorite phase: “hurry up and wait” for follow-on training in Altus, Oklahoma. Now we’re finally packing up and heading that way this month. My husband will graduate and finish up training in May 2026 before we move — once again — to Birmingham, Alabama. Just another casual two-year cross-country hopscotch.
We are no strangers to the moving process: making new friends to then leave them behind, finally settling in just to pack up again, and saying hello only to say goodbye. Rinse, repeat, it’s all very routine.
But nothing hits quite like a PCS during the in-between season; the one where your Christmas tree is replaced by cardboard and a card table, and your holiday cheer has been outsourced to black-and-yellow bins. You’re in the thick of separating your HHG (household goods) and the separate shipment of unaccompanied goods. Meanwhile, you’re desperately trying to make something feel festive before someone (probably you) loses it while your Elf on the Shelf® watches in amusement.
Ask any active-duty member or their spouse: the logistics of a move, in general, consist of checklists and clearances on Uncle Sam’s timeline. It’s a juggling act during the best of times, but do it during the holidays, and you’ve got yourself a military edition of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Uprooting and transplanting lives is never easy and certainly not ideal during the holidays, especially for a family with tiny humans because as parents, we are the magic makers. So that’s exactly why we try our damndest to make the moving boxes and the empty house or temporary lodging feel as holly jolly and magical as possible.
Our Elf on the Shelf® sits at attention, following our little fam from point A to point B, reassuring the kids that no matter where we are, the magic of the holidays is always there. We watch every holiday movie, blast the Christmas music, and do the most with the least. Military families know the magic of the holidays doesn’t come from a perfectly decorated tree or house…but who am I kidding?! The decorations, the tree — they definitely help. Convincing ourselves that the spirit of the holidays is all we need is easier than admitting our tree is still in a box (probably labeled “kitchenware”), a few bulbs are broken, and the strand of lights we bought last year don’t even work.
And yet we also know that while some of the magic does lie in all of that, it truly comes from those we love and hold close to our hearts, the people who make every house a home… no matter where the government plants us.
