Santa: James Ward arranged
to send 5,000 Christmas trees
to troops overseas.
Recovering in his La-Z-Boy from three days of nearly nonstop work, James Ward hardly looks like Santa Claus. Achy, congested and miserable, he waves off visitors, saying he might be contagious. But the laid-off truck driver from rural Maryland has just made Christmas brighter for thousands of U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan by mailing them miniature potted spruce trees with all the holiday trimmings.
A year after Ward founded Operation Christmas Tree to cheer up his deployed stepdaughter and a few dozen of her fellow soldiers in Iraq, the project has blossomed into a national campaign that shipped 5,000 trees this season. Despite all the kudos, Ward said there's one reward he's missing: seeing the trees received by the troops.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall to watch them open them," he said. "Trust me, it's satisfying doing it, but it would be so cool to see these guys open some of them."
Read the full story on MSNBC.com Operation Christmas Tree Blossoms ◄ here
