I'll Be Home for Christmas

I'm a huge Christmas music fan, I always have been, I don't seem to get tired of hearing the same songs over and over, and I generally have 3 or 4 favorite versions of each song (except 12 Days of Christmas, and "The Red Shoes", both make me want to poke my eyes out). You can't go wrong with original recordings, Judy Garland for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", Bing Crosby for "White Christmas", or Mel Tormee on "The Christmas Song" (my favorite version is actually Nat King Cole, but it's Mel's song he wrote it so he has to get the credit).

How cool would it be to hear some original versions of the traditional songs? The original performance of "Silent Night", "The Messiah", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", or "Ave Maria" (I know not just a Christmas song, but probably the only time us Non-Catholics listen to it).

The last couple of years my favorite Christmas album has been Josh Groban's "Noel", for multiple reasons, one I think he is totally cute and he's on my list (the good thing about no longer being married is my list can be as long as I want), two he can sing his face off, three he's a best selling artist that doesn't believe Americans are too stupid to appreciate foreign songs (and even give us enough credit that he doesn't need to sing a verse or two translated to English, we're good without it), and four it's a brilliant Christmas album, making old songs new again. His version of "Little Drummer Boy" (with Andy McKee on guitar, if you aren't familiar with him check him out on Youtube, he's an amazing acoustic guitarist), is fabulous, nothing can really go wrong with him doing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" as a duet with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and when was the last time you got a new recording of Petit Papa Noel on a US album?

Raving about Josh Groban isn't really the point of this post though, one of the songs on his album is "I'll Be Home for Christmas". A quick history of that song (I'm not good with exact dates or names of battles so I will gloss over that), The idea that soldiers would make it home for Christmas, and the longing that expressed came around during WWI when the troops thought the war would only last months, that they would kick some German butt, and be home "in time for Christmas". It was originally said tongue in cheeks, but it was quickly apparent that the troops wouldn't be home for Christmas, and that this war was going to be long and painful.

The phrase was turned into a sond in 1943 during WWII, and became a huge hit after it was recorded by Bing Crosby expressing the longing to for peace and return home from WWII.

The Josh Groban version of the song has recordings from our troops in Iraq and them expressing to their famlies their love and desire to return home for Christmas. It inevitably reduces me to tears, the little girl telling her dad they are wrapping a present for him to put under the tree for when he comes home, and the young soldier mother talking about the things she will miss with her 4 year old daughter this year at Christmas.

I may be unique, but honestly I don't think about the war very often, and I should. We have been at war for Jake's entire lifetime, and yet he sleeps at night without giving it a second thought, which isn't true for our military children, or for the children in the war torn areas of Iraq and Afganistan. Soldiers often return to continue fighting the war at home as they come home with physical and psychological injuries that will take years to heal if they ever do. It feels like I should be making more sacrifices because we are at war, lots of people are making sacrifices of son, daughters, sisters, brothers, moms and dads. Yet if you google "help military families" you will quickly see that these people sacrificing their lives for this country have families left behind that are facing poverty, and can't even afford to buy their kids Christmas. In WWII everyone was under food and goods rationing to contribute to the war effort, this time around we just seem to go into debt, but none of us are making those sacrifices that keep the war in mind. It's an unpopular war, but should it make a difference if our troops are over there fighting?

I'm certainly not the best example, I think about it for a day or two, and then go back to my life, and I certainly am not making a proactive effort to change that (I donate money or goods when asked but I'm certainly not out seeking opportunities, and donating for the troops everytime I go to Dollar Tree seems a rather empty gesture). I can do better, and when we join together this season to wish for "peace on earth" this seems a good time to try.

I don't agree with this war, I think we were lied to entering this war, and that nothing is being served being there, but a lot of death and destruction. There are some places in this world that aren't ready for democracy, and while it would be wonderful if all countries could embrace it, killing people to spread democrazy, isn't going to do anymore good, than killing people in the name of religion will spread the religion. That said, these men and women sacrificing their lives, and futures are "us" no matter what I think about this war, they represent "us", they are fighting for "us", no matter what we believe about this or any other war.

I certainly don't want to scare Jake, war is a hard thing to explain to a child, but I think he needs to know that his country is at war, and that people are sacrificing their lives everyday, so that we can have all the things that we have, and to try to keep our country safe to live in.

And making sure to add to my prayers every single day that our troops will be "home for Christmas" soon certainly isn't going to hurt anything.

To our troops and their families, whatever holidays you do or do not celebrate this time of year, I hope you are blessed, and can soon be comforted with peace, and be home with your family for any special days.

Thank you for all the sacrifices you are making!