FARAI CHIDEYA, host:
And now Betty Baye has this Christmas wish for all of you who won't be able to spend the holiday with loved ones.
BETTY BAYE: During my early years living in Louisville, I often opened my home on Christmas Eve to friends in my same predicament, people who'd moved to Kentucky and couldn't be home for the holidays, and friends suddenly without much to do the night before Christmas because their kids were grown, gone and creating new Christmas traditions with their families.
My Christmas Eve gatherings were and always will be no stress. It's come as you are, with whomever you please, so long as he, she or they does not have an attitude. I cannot stand people with attitudes on Christmas. And stay as late as you like. And if I conked out before you're ready to go, just quietly close the door behind you.
Now on some Christmas eves, I've had crowds, and others when only a few folks stop by. Either way, I'm going to be happy because at least I'm not alone, and that's a good thing. It's a good thing as well that I don't drink, because being away from home for the holidays can be rough.
I mean you keep thinking about what's going on back home, and foolishly you may even feel a tad disappointed that your relatives are actually having a good time without you. Sure, you call or they call you and they pass the phone around so you can say hi to everybody. But it's not like being there.
So you try to imagine the dinner table conversation. Imagine how folks are oo-ing and ah-ing as they open their gift. And who is taking stuff because they're winning at the (unintelligible) game?
Not only that, but you can almost hear inside your head the front door opening and closing as neighbors stop by to say Merry Christmas, drop off gifts, or to spread the news that their beloved so and so is home for the holidays.
When you're away from family during the holidays, you tend to romanticize the simplest things. But one of my fondest Christmas Eve memories since moving to Kentucky was a Christmas Eve a few years back.
I had a few friends over and we were well into drink, food and conversation when the doorbell rang. A late arrival? But when I opened the door, I got the sweetest surprise. It was a group of my neighbors wearing the biggest smiles and singing Christmas carols.
We all joined in.
(Soundbite of song, "Silent Night")
BAYE: After my neighbors had slipped back into the cold, dark night, having fulfilled their mission of spreading joy, it occurred to me that what had just happened was like a scene from an old movie. I'd never experienced anything like that before, people going door to door and singing Christmas carols.
As I said, it was the sweetest thing. So it's Christmas once again, and once again it looks like I won't be with kinfolk this year. But I won't complain because I am surely and truly blessed.
And just as my thoughts and prayers go out to my loved ones, so do I send them to those who have lost loved ones this year. And to strangers who are homeless or behind bars or serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. To each and all I say Merry Christmas and God be with you on the new and glorious morn when joy came to the world.
(Soundbite of song, "Joy to the World")
CHIDEYA: Betty Baye is a columnist for The Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.
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