Only in my dreams

I’m pretty sure that every war begun since the year 1 BCE touted that soldiers from both sides would be home by Christmas.

Victorious, of course.

Trying to think of any that lived up to the hype, but I'm coming up empty.

Putin’s current little adventure in Ukraine was supposed to have over in three days, yet here we are, like 298 later. There will be a lot of Russian families marking the holidays without Vanya, Pasha and Mitya. And families all over Ukraine will be making do not only with their brothers and sisters at the front, but in bomb shelters, shelled-out buildings and in the cold and dark from power outages.

Merry Christmas, y’all.

Well, it should come as no surprise that “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was written in 1943 (first recorded by Bing Crosby). Its lyrics encapsulate the longing of every soldier on every side in every war for the past two millennia to be with family and friends for the quintessential family-and-friends holiday. So it’s my choice for today’s Advent piece.

paints an idealized picture of what the holidays represent. It sounds a little kitschy these days, but it must have cut deep into the hearts of everyone who’d been displaced by the war.

Apparently the song’s writer couldn’t sell it to music publishers until he sang it to Bing Crosby on the golf course. Crosby liked it, and back in those days, if Crosby wanted to make a record, he did. It was a substantial hit for him in both 1943 and 1944.

Josh Groban has got a lot of mileage out of his update—voted greatest holiday recording of all time in a recent poll by readers of the San José Mercury-News. He beat out Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, which I’d have thought unstoppable. It’s nice, of course, although I think it just a tad manipulative weaving in messages from serving soldiers and their families. (But, in fairness, I think a little Groban goes a long way, so when I hear him I need to guard against insulin shock.)

I’m giving you Vanessa Williams singing it.

May all who cannot in fact be home for Christmas find it where they are.