I'll Be Home For Christmas

I am listening to Christmas music as I type this. I just heard the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and it brought back some memories.

When I was a teenager I went with my family to the church for a Christmas party. As part of the entertainment one man dressed up in what I remember as a WWII military uniform and he sang this song. At the end I noticed that most of the adults had tears in their eyes. I thought it was because to me it sounded like the guy had butchered the song, but then again I was just a teenager, what did I know.

A few years later I was sitting in the cafeteria in a department store in Tokyo having lunch with the other missionaries I was working with and I heard this song. For the first time I really got it, since I knew that for the first time in my life I would not be home for Christmas. The second Christmas in Japan I had been reassigned to the same area that I had spent my first Christmas in what was at the time called the Tokyo 2nd Ward aka North Branch, so for me it was kind of like being home for Christmas all over again.

Since getting married and having children I now realize that home for me is where I am. This year James and Emily with presumably be having their very first Christmas with just their three boys (I miss them already) and Russell and Sarah Jane will be visiting her folks outside of Pittsburgh so it will be a different Christmas for Barbara, Rachel, John and myself. There will of course be more than enough love to share and send no matter where everyone else in our extended families may be.

Below is a clip from Josh Groban. Enjoy!