I'll Be Home for Christmas

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is one of the most famous Christmas songs. Written in 1943, it was recorded that same year by Bing Crosby and was in the top ten records of that year. The song was written from the perspective of a World War II soldier who longed to be home for Christmas “If only in my dreams.”

With the coronavirus raging once again, this year many of us can truly say that we will be home for Christmas. Plans for celebrating Christmas with our families have either been canceled or altered by the threat of spreading the virus. 

Our kids and grandkids have not been together at Christmas time since 2014, and this was supposed to be our year to be together. Those plans were scratched long ago along with our plans for a week-long family vacation at Grey Wolf Lodge. 

Our plans have become even simpler as Cheryl tested positive for COVID-19 this week. We have racked our minds trying to figure out how she contracted the virus. We have been so careful, yet, boom! She has a few less severe symptoms that we are watching, and she has been in regular communication with our family physician. 

My brother and his wife both have the virus. They live in Mississippi next door to my 91 year old mother. Our daughter, Amanda, left her husband and five children to go care for my mother for a week. I am so proud of Jeff, her husband, for volunteering to take off work and take care of the kids while Amanda was in Mississippi. 

Amanda was with my mother when she tested positive for the virus, and a couple days later she became seriously ill. Amanda took her to the ER, and the caregivers administered an infusion of antibodies, and miraculously they sent her home. 

Amanda contracted the virus and now she is isolating on the lower level of our home, and unfortunately she will be away from her family til the end of the year. I am proud of her for the act of love that she demonstrated by taking care of her grandmother and exposing herself to the virus. 

Cheryl is isolating in our bedroom on the main level. Amanda is on the lower level. I am headquartered in a bedroom on the loft level, and trying to take care of my two COVID patients. I will be home for Christmas with two of my sweethearts—responsibly distancing—and dreaming about the greater family Christmas that will have to wait for another year.