It was a working day for many of the 5,200 service personnel, now mostly based in the southern part of Helmand province, but there were carol concerts and exchanges of presents.
This time of year conjures up traditional images of family gatherings, cozy fireplaces, shared meals and happy exchanges of presents -- images of home, security and friendship.
It's the Hindu equivalent of Christmas - all tinsel garlands, fairy lights, an exchange of presents and sweetmeats - with the bonus of fireworks.
After all the preparation, all the lights and music and the exchange of presents and the knee-deep rubble of wrapping paper, it is still traditional to say that these things are not Christmas.
And they made me realize that the part of Christmas I most look forward to isn't the perfume of the tree, the overflow of food or our exchange of presents.
It's not so much the family events, or the exchanging of presents that irks, but the worry my almost grown-up child may feel the pressure to party the holidays away just at the point when he needs to have his mind on some serious studying.
They keep in touch during the winters through holiday cards, periodic phone calls and an exchange of Christmas presents.
For example, the durbar was introduced to India by the Mughals, and passed onto the British Empire, which then followed Indian tradition: "institutions, titles, customs, ceremonies by which a Maharaja or Nawab were installed ... the exchange of official presents ... the order of precedence", for example, were "all inherited from ... the Emperors of Delhi".
Rather, it irreversibly converted to the open-pore form (MIL-53-ht) due to the exchange of water present in the MIL-53 pores with chloroform solvent molecules during membrane casting and to pore penetration and confinement by Matrimid® polymer chains.
So did their exchange of about $125,000 worth of presents at Christmas.
Other contributions includ ed $75 from the staff of the organization and procedures department of the Port of New York Authority; $50 from the employes of Theo dore R. Sills, Inc., who sent the contribution instead of exchanging presents at Christmas, and $35 from the casting department at Young & Rubicam.
