Army basic training in the 70's was all you hoped and feared it to be. Christmas came and they sent us home. Whether you were thrown out of the house and told to go join the military or if you enjoyed a great family growing up, you were homesick and looking forward to new family memories.
While on a day off before the Holiday leave, I was at a USO, where a band played that song: "I'll be home for Christmas." I became very homesick and knew I would go crazy if they had kept us away from family and friends, ham and fudge.
I can remember as a boy, watching ol' Bob Hope's military Christmas special during the Viet Nam "conflict." It would be hauntingly quiet when someone sang that part: "I'll be home for Christmas."
This Christmas is no different with Sons and daughters, moms and dads, husband or wives, in harms way! I suppose many a recent letter or phone call ended with "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams". Remember those in prayer.