Driving Home for Christmas

I’ve been going through a bunch of old photos and scanning my favorites. Here’s a nostalgic image from the mid 90’s with my oldest two sons, Josiah and Jonathan, getting in the swing of the winter weather.

I had several ideas about how to complete this week’s theme of “Going Home,” but I swear, all the choices felt so sad. The famous “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was originally abut a soldier thinking of home, and the chorus always ends with the phrase that tells us it isn’t going to happen when he says, “if only in my dreams.” Heck, Leonard Cohen’s gorgeous “Going Home,” I realized is a metaphor for dying, “going home without the costume that I wore.” Even Lana Del Ray’s version of “Country Road” kind of sounds like she’s returning to a funeral.

The holidays can be sad in many ways, and I don’t want Jeff’s Song of the Day to make it sadder for anyone. Besides, other than maybe a few really cool videos that add something fun or unique to the music, I want us to play songs that are maybe a bit different than the ones you’re be being bombarded with in Target, Walmart, and even the grocery store.

So, here’s one I found that is almost about as much about the video as it is about the music. In fact, the lyrics might not even be that important. You could almost make up your own, which is what this tune feels like for me. One of those driving songs you make up to pass the time. It’s called “Driving Home for Christmas” from 1986, by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea.

This looks so much like Pennsylvania, it reminds me of a year that we drove over the Loganton Mountain after a snow storm to pick up my boys for Christmas. And even if you live deep in the south, I think you can enjoy this white Christmas sort of song and make it fit your own needs this holiday, even if instead of driving, you’re staying home for Christmas.