Can we really go home for Christmas?



I'll be home for Christmas 
I hear that song and still get teary eyed. 
Christmas for me was a wonderful time of year.
Everyone seemed to be a little bit nicer to each other,
Smile a little bit more,
And revel in the happiness of the season.
In my home, it was full of snow and lights and yes, a sleigh or two.
When that song plays, I remember a better time. 
When we weren't the adults,
When the season was filled with magic,
A tingling on a cold quiet night, 
A light snow that falls over the tree ridden landscape,
The moon shining through the trees,
Lighting up the fresh fallen snow on a clear crisp night, making for excellent sledding.
A giant fire burning in a fireplace big enough to walk into. Friends and family together, laughing and smiling.
Wonderful smells coming from the kitchen.

In the city, store windows are decorated, and grandiose Christmas trees decorated with sparkling silver and gold. Street lamps hung with brightly decorated ornaments and the sound of carols on the wind. 

The holidays, whether its Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or Ramadan, are a promise of warmth, light, family and of course, food.
Delicacies tasted but once a year.
Cookies and cakes that take hours and days to prepare.
The pleasure of cinnamon and sugar, nutmeg and clove drifting through the warm kitchen air.

That old song transports us to a land that was.  That special place doesn’t exist for most of us anymore. If you try going home for Christmas now, it’s different. We all have that crazy relative that we really want to avoid. There is an unbelievable pressure connected to gift giving that used to be only about the giving and not the gift, and we tend to feel like teenagers again when our parents and family make decisions for us regardless of our choices. And when it all boils to the top, you get that all familiar feeling we have all had at one time.

GET ME THE HELL OUTTA HERE.

The truth of the matter is home is where the heart is. Spending the Holiday season with the one you love makes you realize that you don't have to go anywhere to BE home.
So while the song reminds of us of a memory we very much want to revisit, it isn't really possible to go home for Christmas.... 
You see... We're already there.

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