“I’ll be home for Christmas…” — kinda.
As long as I can remember, I’ve always had two Christmases — one at my mom’s and one at dad’s. I’ve heard it all before, “double the Christmas, double the presents,” blah blah blah. Sitting in traffic on the I-10 is as much a Christmas tradition in my family as leaving out cookies for Santa.
Over the years, I’ve come to take comfort in the routine of it. Wake up, open presents, do the obligatory fashion show for Mom and then hit the road for Dad’s. We have Christmas down to a science.
This year, though, my mom moved because both my sister and I have gone to college. So, when I tell my friends I’m “just going home” for Christmas, “home” looks a little bit different. At first, all I could think was, “Well, this sucks.” New city, no hometown friends — total Christmas upheaval. I wasn’t too interested in decking entirely new halls. I like the walls we had, the ones with permanent holes in them because we hung the Christmas decorations up in the same place every year.
But, I’m no Scrooge. Yes, I can be a little controlling about how we decorate the tree (I’m my father’s daughter, there’s a greater vision at stake here, you guys), but I am no Scrooge. I identify more with the small-town old lady in a Hallmark movie who carries the spirit of Christmas within her and makes it snow when the two main characters finally get together at the end of the movie.
So, I asked myself: What does “home for the holidays” really mean?
Well, Perry Como says, “It doesn’t matter how far away you roam” in There’s No Place Like/Home for the Holidays.
And good old Frank Sinatra in I’ll Be Home for Christmas says home is “where the love light gleams.”
And then, I received a message from the King himself. Excuse me, the King of Rock and Roll, not Jesus. Elvis sings that he’s going to “have a blue Christmas without you” in Blue Christmas.
Now, I know, this is a fairly overdone realization that home means family, not an actual place. Go ahead, roll your eyes. I watch Hallmark movies, remember? But for someone who has relied on the familiarity of routine her whole life, this was a hard Christmas cookie to swallow.
But the magical old lady in A Christmas Surprise at Mistletoe Orchard has a point. ‘Tis the season for change. So what if I have to put holes in new walls? If anything, a new house means new decorations. And I love a Christmas shopping spree.
And, we can still do all our usual traditions at the new house. We don’t have to leave them with the old. So, in a way, this is my Christmas list:
- Play Christmas music all month until eventually, my mom threatens me with coal.
- Be completely anal about the way my sister hangs ornaments.
- Attempt, once again, to make spritz with my dad even though they always turn out wonky.
- Call 18 Thai restaurants to find one that’s open on Christmas Eve, so we can eat Thai food and watch Love Actually.
Maybe that’s why all the Christmas movies are so sappy. For years, they’ve been trying to tell us that Christmas is about spending it with those you love, but we’re so caught up in who’s doing what and who’s going where that sometimes we just forget. I know I did.
Home is where the heart is, and no matter how cheesy that sounds it is completely unavoidable. So, cue the snow. Carolers enter stage left. Act surprised, you guys. This article has a happy ending. I’ve realized the true meaning of Christmas!