The year 1963
The singer Darlene Love
The song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
This song feels like part of the architecture of Christmas. It’s iconic.
I actually have very little to say on the song, the sweeping power of the vocals speaks for itself, but it felt like a totally necessary inclusion in this series for its emotive force. And also because I do miss home sometimes and can totally relate to this song.
Christmas is a time when we rekindle seldom kindled relationships. Where you can hear from people you only hear from once or twice a year, the passing like on Facebook, the occasional comment on a post, the rare message. Christmas is this whole invitation to reconnect with people and find out how they are doing, to let them know how you are doing.
It’s a chance to talk about the important things in life. A time to assess how you’ve done and think about moving forward.
Granted, the claims of “We should see each other more often” mean slightly less at Christmas as they are so flippant and rarely followed, but the thought is a truly nice thing. You know what, we should see more of each other.
For me, this Christmas is special because it’ll be the first Christmas I’ve spent with my brother in almost four years. The season is maybe different to him now, having spent years in the other hemisphere, but I’m sure the feeling is mutual. His girlfriend will also be there, and I am very glad as my impression of her has always been good.
My fiancée will also be with me, our first Christmas together. My parents have been chased out of the house, briefly, to accommodate us all!
As well as it being the first Christmas with my fiancée and the first with my family in a long time, I have been presented with a shocking idea.
It’s early days yet and I can’t tell the future, but the theory goes thus: I am now an adult man with a fiancée whom I will have married by next year. We are both interested in having children. People with children tend to spend Christmas morning with said children. Therefore, as one of my students suggested, this could be one of my last Christmas mornings with my parents.
It’s almost unthinkable that I could mature so swiftly in such a short time, but that could be the direction we are going.
Then again, family is extremely important to me, so I think that may be 2 or 3 Christmases off.
This song, then, symbolises to me, the separation people can feel at Christmas. It also hints at a possible future where, moving forward, I will start my own household.
I hope I see a lot of my family either way.
The writer of this piece is not crying, he’s just been chopping onions.
If you want to see more in the series, go here and find links.
pasturesfresh 
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