I'll be home for Christmas

A long time ago, when I was a mere child of less than 10 years, my big brother went to Cuba to work. On the day he left, my parents took him to the airport and of course, my little brother and I tagged along to see him off. Back then the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston, Jamaica was much smaller and more open. We went upstairs and watched the passengers, including my brother walk to the plane while waving and shouting our final goodbyes.

(For the evolution of the NMIA in pictures, visit: http://arc-it-studio-architecture.blogspot.jp/2010/12/evolving-norman-manley-airport-since.html)

It was a bittersweet moment. The days following the departure were tear-filled days. My mother and I cried a lot. I don't remember seeing my brother or father crying though.

Some time after, my brother started writing letters to us and we wrote back.  He also telephoned us sometimes. We never returned the favour though. I guess back then it was very costly to place foreign calls.

After some time he told my mother that he would be coming home for vacation for the Christmas holiday. We were all elated.

Soon after, my mother started singing "I'll be home for Christmas" almost everyday.  I had never heard that Christmas Carol before, but by the end of the year, it had been indelibly marked on my brain. My brother came home that Christmas and all was right with the world again. I can't remember exactly what we did, but I remember how I felt during that holiday. After that holiday, Christmas became the most precious time of the year for me.



Christmas in my family was not a flashy gift giving time. It is a quiet but powerful season. During

Christmas, we went out to dinner (nowhere fancy, just KFC or Pizza Hut), watched Christmas movies together, visited relatives and celebrated via big, delicious family meals with lots of story telling and regular conversations.


In my older years, I often helped my mother in the kitchen to prepare Christmas cakes, roast the ham and cook Christmas dinner. I loved helping because that meant I got to scrape out all the batter that stuck to the cake mixing bowl and eat it as well as eat a part of the roasted ham's skin after it was removed.

As an adult I started going to parties with friends and splitting my time between family and friends for the Christmas holidays. The feeling that Christmas was the best time of the year, never diminished, however. Even today, when I think of Christmas, it gives me a natural high and when I hear Christmas carols, my spirit lifts.

So you can imagine how hard it has been for me to miss the last four Christmases with my family. Every year, I cry when the season comes around and I'm stuck in this cold, lonely country and I always remember my brother being away and how my mother sang "I'll be home for Christmas"that year. This year, however, I'll be home for Christmas, and my family can definitely count on me! Don't need snow, nor mistletoes and it won't be in my dreams ;)!






Picture Sources:
http://digjamaica.com/blog/page/58/
http://www.caribproduct.com/Recipes/jamaicanfruitcake.aspx
jamaicangroupiemet.com
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/food/Jamaican-Christmas-Tradition-Baked-Ham_8216995