Home for Christmas

leaving to move on, tugging myself loose
from all that i had known,
in springtime, season of new beginnings
restlessly i spring-cleaned my heart -
some things i kept, and some
i threw away.

far from those i love, in a strange place
the restless searching slowed,
in summer, season of joy and sunshine
happily i played in the sun -
all things were new. and then
somehow it changed,

and everywhere began to seem like the same place
but never quite like home.
the fall came, season of mists and memory
kicking up leaves i thought of you -
i said goodbye, i know.
but do i mean it now?

now here i am, returned, home for christmas
and here you are with me.
in winter, season of cold hands and warm hearts
quietly we dream by the fire -
oh how i wish that we
could dream alike.

This was the name of a collection of holiday songs sung by Amy Grant that came out in 1992. It came with a nice mix of traditionalist Christmas tunes as well as some more modern flavors. That is what in my mind makes a Christmas album a good thing to listen to. You have a nice mix of songs so that when you put it on while you have holiday company it doesn't go all in one direction and people don't leave right away. This album has something for everyone and I usually put it on as people arrive and it helps us get into the spirit of the season.

Now it is true that not everyone is into Christmas and not everyone likes Amy Grant. People who are openly Christian in nature often get a bad rap because modern minds seem to be more into throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That is fine if you feel that way but Christmas can be a happy time and you don't have to be gung-ho religious in nature to enjoy it.

When I think of the term "home for Christmas" I think about happier times in my life. Growing up as a boy of Middle Eastern descent in post-war Germany (West Germany it was called at the time) I had many special Christmas memories. My father was born in an Islamic family but he converted into a Catholic when he married my mother. Our Christmastime was often difficult as we didn't have much money and when I was still a boy we became immigrants in America. Most of my best Christmas memories involved when I was a teenager in Baltimore. My father worked in sales, as I do, and he was on the road a lot in those days. I remember him coming home often late on Christmas Eve and sometimes I was already in bed but I woke up when I heard he shoes in the hallway. My mother had mistletoe hanging in the hallways for when he came and they would always kiss under it and soon after I would run downstairs to hug my father and tell him "I'm glad you're home for Christmas." Sometimes he would then read me "The Night Before Christmas" before putting me back into my bed for sleeping purposes. For that reason my favorite Christmastime tune has always been "I'll be home for Christmas." It reminds me of those times.

I'm kind of crazy because I was listening to this album today even though Christmas is more than three months away. I guess it is okay to listen to Christmas music sometimes when it is a different time of the year.

The songs on this album that Amy Grant doesn't cover versions of are as follows in this list:

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Joy To The World/For Unto Us A Child Is Born
Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)
O Come All Ye Faithful
Grown-Up Christmas List
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
Winter Wonderland
I'll Be Home For Christmas
The Night Before Christmas
Emmanuel, God With Us
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring