I'll Be Home For Christmas

“I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree. Christmas Eve will find me where the love-light gleams. I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.”

The song, “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” stirs within us such a wide array of emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Telling the story of someone who simply desires to be home for Christmas, the song brings feelings of hope, loneliness, love, comfort, and nostalgia. Christmas songs tend to spur such feelings.

For instance, let’s look at the song, “White Christmas” (sung by Lari White):

And… “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (sung by Frank Sinatra):

They are all a little sappy, are they not? Yet we love them so. Why is this?

Because they help us remember. They help us look back on memories of past Christmases: the good times and the bad times. They give us hope for the future, with promises of comfort, joy, and happiness.

Christmas means cold weather, snow, red and green lights, Santa Clause, parties, trees, lights, and presents. Christmas brings an atmosphere of happiness, jolliness, joy, excitement, and passion. Christmas sparks love, remembrance, tears, thankfulness, acceptance, and comfort. Christmas is a time of family, memories, expectations, warmth, and relaxation. Christmas encompasses the birth of a precious baby boy, our Lord Jesus Christ.

                 

               Christmas tends to be an emotional and nostalgic time for the majority of us, whether these emotions are positive or negative. With the entrance of the Christmas season comes a desire to be home with family and people that are dear to our hearts. It brings memories of Christmases past, family members lost, and situations changed. It is a time of true love and grace that reminds us of what life is truly all about.

                Our culture has created an explosive buildup that surrounds the Christmas time, making it incredibly special. But this massive cultural excitement and commotion gives advertising businesses grand opportunities to sweep us off our feet in our sensitive, nostalgic states. 

We listen to Christmas music beginning in October stretching all the way through December 25^th (and by that point we are all sick of it). Stores put their Christmas decorations up in late October or early November, already starting to advertise the new advances and specials that will be available to purchase for the upcoming Christmas holiday. Lights are decorating shops, malls, parks, houses, and public parking areas, preparing for the excitement of Christmas. 

All of a sudden our houses, stores, malls, and public areas begin to smell of pine needles, cinnamon, apples, and mint. Pictures of presents, little kids with Santa Clause, parents wrapping gifts, and Christmas decorations are scattered in public areas, television shows, advertisements, and commercials. We have even set aside a specific day of enormous shopping sales, early and late store hours, and mass chaos for Christmas shopping: Black Friday. (I finally understand why it is called Black Friday!) 

The advertising world has caught on to us. It is playing upon our fragile, nostalgic emotions. 

Think of the immense amounts of money, time, and stress that we all put into Christmas. We buy, buy, and buy some more. We have to make sure we check everyone off our list and give them things that they like. We place significant priority in making Christmas a special time, as we should because it is worthy of celebrating. But the craziness that comes with the Christmas season often overcomes the specialness, gentleness, and preciousness of the gift that Christmas brings. 

As I was thinking about the things that I always tend to be nostalgic about, Christmas happened to be one of the first on my list. I really began thinking about why it made the top five, for which there are many reasons. I realized that one of the main reasons it has become so important is because of the amount of emphasis our culture, namely our businesses and commercial industries, have placed on it. It is interesting to examine how much we allow our industries to affect our emotional states and ideals. 

Christmas will always be a special and significant time, even without all of the commercial craziness. In fact, I think it would be really powerful if one Christmas, we just take a break from all of the mayhem and simply focus on…Christmas, for what it is truly meant to be, centered around a "babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).