Home for Christmas

This post by AWTM really got me thinking. She says this is the first Christmas in 5 years where she is at home.

She says:

The last 5 Christmas's have been hard for me.

I won't go into specifics tonight, because honestly. I am too tired for it. Let me say this, the last five years are filled with death, illness, new babies, and deployments.

This year is the first year my tree is up in OUR HOME. I haven't seen any of this stuff for 5 years.
...
The phone rings, and it is my Dad.

"I miss you, and love you and sure wish you would come home this Christmas."

He doesn't understand I am already home......

I know how she feels, in a way. When DH and I were married, we knew that he'd be leaving soon for Basic, and that we wouldn't spend Christmas together. So I didn't bother to put up any of my Christmas things, didn't get a tree, and made plans to return to CA with the Princess, who was then about 6 months old. Just before Christmas, however, we found out that his basic class (the last of the year) would be released for 2 weeks over the Holidays, and we managed to get him a ticket on the same flight as the last leg of my journey home.

That was the last time all of us were together at home for the Holidays.

For the next 5 years, DH and I decided that the trek to CA was more of a pain than it was worth. Forget flying a dog in cold weather, and we weren't paying a $400 boarding fee on top of flights, gifts, etc.

So we would nest at home. Almost never leaving the house the years he was still in the Army, just enjoying the time we could spend together, sitting in front of the tree, playing with the dog.

But something was missing.

I realized it last weekend as we were choosing our own Christmas Tree. This year we really will have Christmas at home. Yeah, my house is all decorated (although I can't find my Wreaths. Scumbag movers) and we have a lovely tree, but all of that will sit alone for a week as we load the car up with presents and make the trek home. For the first time in 5 years.

I'm sure there will be years when we won't want to make the drive, but not this year. Even if Dad hadn't been sick, we'd still be going. As my mother said the other day, I'm looking forward to opening presents without trying to balance a phone to my ear!