“As a (Navy) reservist, I'm often asked what my ‘day job’ is,” writes Jeff Pizanti, a stay-at-home dad in California. Responses to his career choice vary from, “That’s nice, but I could never do that” to “You must be having a blast,” he said.

Jeff, a Navy spouse, posted some of his experiences here on the SC blog, and also shared some of his experiences via e-mail.

The July 26 Spouse Calls column details more of my conversations Jeff and other stay at home military dads. Each seemed more concerned about his family’s needs than the counterculture nature of his choices, in spite of some people’s reactions

When Missoula Children's Theatre comes to town, it takes 50 to 60 local children and turns them into the stars of a musical production in just one week. I sat in on some rehearsals for "The Princess and the Pea" when the MCT was here at my base a couple of weeks ago. Click here to read the July 19 Spouse Calls from back stage.

The Missoula Children's Theatre site at www.mct.org has more information about how the program works, where it is going and also about the local organization, based in Missoula Montana.

Here are some of the scheduled MCT events at overseas military bases:

This week's Spouse Calls column was all about when birthdays and PCS's collide, as they do often for my daughter, Jessie. She is Sweet Sixteen today! Happy Birthday Jessie!

Christmas isn't the only season for remembering service members overseas, especially since military life and deployments continue through every holiday all year long.

Project Rudolph, which provides gift bags for patients at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, deployed troops and those passing through the Ramstein Air Base terminal on their way downrange, plans year round for their December gift-giving season.

For those living in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, contributing to the program is as easy as checking out their yard sale July 11 or helping to prepare bags on the 25th. In 2008, Project Rudolph reports that 8,000 gift bags were distributed to soldiers, sailors, airman and Marines, utilizing only volunteers and donations.