I’ll Be Home for Christmas - 1. Chapter 1 - I'll Be Home For Christmas

The year 2020 has been a rough one, with the COVID-19 pandemic changing the way we live and how we do things. Even though certain segments of the population have tried to downplay the severity of the situation, I’ve taken it seriously and tried to follow the suggested recommendations to lessen the spread of the disease. I wear a mask whenever I leave my apartment, try to social distance by keeping at least six feet away from anyone else, and most of all I’ve done my best to help protect my elderly parents.

I suppose you’re wondering how I do this, so I’ll explain. Luckily, I did some of the groundwork for it over the summer without even knowing about the virus and well before news of the pandemic had hit the US. Now, I’m simply building on what I’d done previously.

“Mom and Dad,” I began during one of our Zoom chats, “I’m adding you to my Netflix, Apple TV, and HBO Max accounts so you’ll have even more to choose from so you’ll be entertained during the pandemic.”

“We appreciate that, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to add those things to our TV,” my dad replied.

“Sure you will, because I’ll walk you through it. You watched when I added the Roku device to your TV and walked you through adding the other apps so you could use them. You’ve already got Hulu and CBS All Access, because I knew that’s the network you watch the most, and now I’m going to give you even more choices.

“I know you can do this because I had you add the others and you even took notes on Open Office when I walked you through adding those apps. You did that in case something happened to your TV and you had to replace it, because we knew if that happened then you’d have to add the apps all over again. This will be just about the same as doing that, so use your notes and I’ll be here to help out if you’re having problems.”

“Ok, I’ll give it a try.”

It wasn’t quite as bad as pulling teeth and I eventually talked him through the process of adding those apps as well. Once that was taken care of, I got down to the next item on my list of things I wanted them to do in order to stay safe.

“I want you to start ordering everything you need online and have it delivered to the house. That way you won’t have to go out and possibly expose yourself to this virus.”

“Your mother and I appreciate that, but we’ll still have to go grocery shopping.”

“No, because you can order your groceries online as well and have them delivered. I’ve already checked and the grocery store you use offers that service.”

“But we can’t afford to pay a delivery charge every week just to get our groceries.”

“Don’t worry about it, because I’ll cover the added expense for you. I’ll transfer money to your account to cover all the extra fees you might incur. I want you to start ordering everything online, including your medications.”

“Our Medicare Advantage plans already provide for our prescriptions to be delivered through the mail, along with many of the over-the-counter supplies we use.”

“That’s great, so we’ll just tell the delivery people to leave the items on the porch and ring the doorbell, and then you can bring them inside after they leave.”

“Thank you for helping us out with these things. We really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome and I’m doing this because I love you and want to keep you safe.”

Now that we’ve established this plan, whenever something is delivered to the house, my dad goes out to collect the items shortly after the delivery person leaves. He brings everything into the house, and then he and my mother unpack those items and put them away. After they finish, he and my mother wash their hands thoroughly to prevent contracting the disease through contact with the bags and boxes they were delivered in. This means the farthest that either of my parents will have to venture away from the house is to the porch or the mailbox, and they always wear a mask to do this as well, in case they run into a neighbor along the way.

I’m extremely grateful that my parents have each other for company, but I also have Zoom chats with them on the weekends, as well as speaking with them by phone on a daily basis. I do this so I can make sure they have everything they need and are staying safe and healthy.

Even though I have a sibling, I’ve taken the brunt of the responsibility, because my sister, Jennifer, has her own family to worry about. Don’t get me wrong, because she also stays in touch with our parents, just not as often as I do. This doesn’t mean the situation has been easy for any of us, but we’re all doing our best to make the most of a bad situation.

This would probably be a good time to tell you a little about myself. My name is Jeremy and I work at the local hospital as an MRI and Radiologic Technologist, so I’m in the vicinity of infected people all day long and don’t wish to transfer the risk to my family. My partner, Tony, works at the hospital as well, but he’s an ER nurse and doesn’t have any family to worry about. His parents disowned him when he came out as gay, so my family has sort of adopted him. We’re not married, but we live together, and my family includes Tony in everything we do, that is until the pandemic struck. Now, he merely joins me when I connect with them online.

My sister’s husband, Brad, works in the IT department for a major firm, and she is a medical transcriptionist, so they’re both able to work from home. This worked out well when the schools closed and their children were doing remote learning from home, because the two of them would take turns focusing on their job and working with their son and daughter, Nathan and Melanie.

Thanksgiving was another difficult time for us, because we usually all gathered at my parents’ house for the holiday. My mom takes charge of fixing the turkey while Jennifer and I supply the other dishes and the desserts. We merely heat those items up in Mom’s oven when we get there, but this year none of this was possible. Instead, we all ended up having Thanksgiving separately, at our own homes, since we didn’t want to take the chance of infecting each other.

“I’m going to prepare a turkey and the typical side dishes this year,” Jennifer stated, “so not much will change for us, except that we won’t all be together this year.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” our mom responded sounding perplexed. “Your father and I won’t be able to eat an entire turkey by ourselves, and it doesn’t make any sense to let most of it go to waste, so maybe I’ll just roast a chicken instead.”

“Or you can do like Tony and I will be doing. We’re going to order a frozen turkey breast instead of an entire turkey, and that will be plenty for the two of us.”

“That’s a good idea,” Mom agreed. “I think I’ll do that as well, and I’ll also fix a couple of side dishes, just in smaller amounts.”

“And we’ve all got to have a pumpkin pie,” Brad urged.

“Yes, we’ll do that as well,” Mom concurred, “but I’ll only make a small pumpkin pie for the two of us.”

“Jeremy and I will get a large pumpkin pie so we’ll have enough for the entire weekend,” Tony chipped in, which caused the others to laugh at his response.

“We’ll connect on Zoom when we sit down to eat, just like we’re doing now,” I suggested. “That way we can still enjoy the meal together and chat with each other at the same time.”

Actually, Thanksgiving Day went better than any of us anticipated, although we missed the hugs, kisses, and handshakes that we usually shared with one another. However, as I said earlier, we made the best of a bad situation.

That evening, once we’d ended our online session, I started thinking ahead to Christmas. It was going to be much harder to adjust to that holiday, since it’s not just a meal that we’d be sharing with each other and there will be a lot more involved. Let me explain.

My sister and her husband’s two children, Nathan and Melanie, make the excitement of opening presents nearly as much fun as it was for us when Jennifer and I were growing up. I don’t think any of us want to miss out on that, so we’ve agreed to order our gifts online and then have them delivered to the home of the person it was meant for. We’ll put Brad’s name on the package containing Jennifer’s gift so he can wrap it for us, and vice versa. We will also do the same with Mom and Dad’s presents, but we’ll address Nathan and Melanie’s gifts to Jennifer, since she does a better job wrapping packages.

While thinking about how strange Christmas is going to be this year, I suddenly realized this isn’t the first time this has happened and we aren’t the only ones who have been unable to go home for Christmas. This caused me to remember something my mother would tell me every year before she played one of her favorite Christmas songs.

“This was my mother’s favorite Christmas song and it kept her going when my father was away in the army during World War II. It’s sort of a family tradition now to play this, and I’ll continue doing it to honor my parents’ memory, since they’ve both passed away”

She would then play Johnny Mathis’ version of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, although I believe her mother preferred Bing Crosby’s version. The song was written in 1943 by Walter Kent and Kim Gannon, and it was written from the perspective of a World War II soldier who was fighting overseas. The lyrics go like this:

I’m dreaming tonight of a place I love
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it’s a long road back
I promise you

I’ll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents by the tree

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

The third and fourth stanzas are then repeated with minor variations, but I believe you now understand what I’m getting at. Even after World War II ended, the song didn’t lose its significance for those who were away fighting in other wars in later years, nor for others who were unable to return home due to other reasons. It has become a Christmas favorite and is one of the most popular songs played during the Christmas holiday.

Although our situation is similar, the circumstances aren’t nearly as dire. Lives are still at risk, even though no bullets are flying – well maybe there are some viral bullets flying around this time, but we now have technology on our side to lessen the pain of being apart. We’ll be able to stay in touch using our computers and smart phones, so we won’t be nearly as isolated as those soldiers were. In fact, we probably should change the last stanza of the song as follows:

Christmas eve will find me
Where our love lights bloom
I’ll be home for Christmas
Even if only on Zoom

On Christmas morning, Jennifer called my parents, as well as Tony and me. She asked Nathan and Melanie to wait until the rest of us had made our connections on the computer, and then we got to watch the kids as they excitedly opened their presents. After we watched them open all of their gifts, including the presents from Santa, Melanie spoke first.

“Thank you for all the wonderful things you gave me. I love you Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jeremy, and Uncle Tony. I just wish I could give all of you a hug and a kiss.”

“Yeah, thanks for all this neat stuff,” Nathan added. “I was wonderin’ if we were gonna get anything from you guys this year.”

“Oh, we’ll always find a way to get our favorite grandchildren their presents,” their grandfather replied with a chuckle.

“Hey, we’re your only grandchildren.” Nathan challenged.

“For now, at least until your Uncle Jeremy and Uncle Tony get married and start a family of their own.”

We stayed connected as the rest of us watched each other open our gifts. Once everything had been unwrapped and those giving the present had been thanked, we remained online together while the children went off to enjoy the various items they received this year.

“Bye. I’m gonna go play with some of this new stuff,” Nathan informed us.

“And I wanna go try on some of the new clothes I just got,” Melanie added.

“You two go ahead and we’ll see you again when we all sit down for Christmas dinner,” their grandmother replied.

Before we ended our session so we could fix breakfast, wash up, and get dressed, we agreed on the time when we would all sit down for Christmas dinner. We would reconnect at that time so we’d be able to enjoy our meals together and the day would continue as normally as we could manage.

Once again, we’ll miss the hugs, kisses, and handshakes we usually share when we’re together, but considering that we are doing this to protect each other, it’s a small sacrifice. I hope all of you are able to manage doing something similar this year while you’re enjoying a safe and very merry Christmas Day.

THE END.