I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Christmas. A time for our family to get together, exchange gifts, have a huge meal, eat too many cookies, and gather around the tree to enjoy each others’ company. It’s a tradition that’s celebrated everywhere. Please don’t do it this year.
When I was growing up, we celebrated Christmas at my grandmother’s house, but at some point, it was easier for them to come to us, so they’d go to my aunt’s house just down the road in the morning and then come to our house for dinner. As they got older and then passed on, we started just having Christmas with the five of us. The weather is too iffy in upstate New York at Christmas time, and we kids were just as happy to stay home and play with our gifts, rather than have to leave them behind and truck over to someone else’s house. It worked fine for us.
When my kids were little, they had two grandmothers who would come over for dinner on Christmas Day. That was often interesting, because the two grandmothers did not particularly like each other. I tried to just keep food in their mouths, so they wouldn’t speak to each other (or us.) It worked for us.
When my kids grew up, my son moved to North Carolina, so we’d go over to my daughter’s house for Christmas and watch the grandsons play with their gifts. My sister and her family would come over, and we had quite a few people gathered together. My son would come up, too. He slept on the couch next to the tree, and one famous year he slept through my older grandson getting up early and unwrapping every single gift under the tree. My daughter had a terrible time trying to remember whose gift was whose and rewrapping them all before everyone else got there. My son was in the dog house for a while for that one and is often reminded of it. Like every year.
When my son got married and had a son of his own, I started flying down to spend Christmas with them. My daughter had moved to Virginia, so I’d fly down to her house, we would visit for a couple of days, then all pile into the car for the three hour drive to North Carolina. When my daughter and her family left, I’d stay a few more days to visit with my son and his wife and spend some time with the grandson I seldom got to see, and then I’d fly home. One year I actually got snowed IN in North Carolina, and by the time I could fly back, I was snowed OUT of New York, so I had to stay several more days than I had planned. That’s when I found out the snow in North Carolina is worthless. It’s too dry to form snowballs, so that rules out snowmen, too. About the only thing North Carolina snow is good for is snow angels. Big deal.
Last Christmas, I had moved down here and had a fiance, so we had our little Christmas here and then drove the 40 minutes to my son’s. No tricky weather, no snowy roads, no blizzards. It was boringly lovely. My daughter and her family were there, and my daughter-in-law’s brother came with his family, so there was quite a crowd. My daughter-in-law claims to love having many people to cook for and have a lot of people over for the day. I think she’s actually looking forward to this year.
You see, this year things are different. In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a pandemic in our country since last February, and while it got somewhat better during the warmer months, it has gotten very bad now. Over 317,000 people have died, and we’re losing lives at 2–3,000 a day. The CDC has told us over and over to avoid crowds, stay masked, social distance, and wash our hands. Some people don’t think that applies to them and that the number of ill or dead is inflated. Why, I don’t know. I don’t understand the conspiracy theory that says all this is a hoax or the virus is no worse than the flu or that trying to keep us home is some kind of a plot. A plot to do what, I don’t know. It certainly hasn’t helped the economy any. I don’t see who would benefit, but many people have suffered physical and financial and emotional trauma this year. There are now two vaccines approved to get this thing under control, so next Christmas we can party all we want, I hope.
But this year is time to stay home. It’s one Christmas — just one. You’ll miss seeing Grandma and Grandpa just one Christmas. But if you insist on ignoring the virus, it may be the last Christmas you spend with them. Or an uncle or brother or nephew. Ever. Is it worth the risk? We’ll be Zooming Christmas this year, just as we Zoomed Thanksgiving, and so far, please God, we haven’t lost anyone. And, yes, many people recover, although with health problems that may last the rest of their lifetimes. But many people, like over 317,000 and counting did not recover. And you can’t be there to say good-bye. Isn’t it better to skip one Christmas than take a chance someone in the family may die on a ventilator alone? Isn’t it better to miss one Christmas than put doctors’ and nurses’ lives in danger? They have families, too.
Let’s all remember this as the one Christmas we didn’t get together, but we survived. Let’s stay home for Christmas, so we’re all still here next year.
