Up the Porch Steps

'There's no place like home for the holidays... 

if you want to be happy in a million ways... 

for the pleasure that you bring when you make that doorbell ring... 

no trip could be too far.'

Written by Al Stillman, as a 1954 single for Perry Como, 'Home for the Holidays' is an easy sing with a lively tune. As history continues to prove, it's the simple things that speak to us the most. I think this song is one of them.

Home.

It's the word that strikes you right in the heart when the holidays roll around. It's a word we chase after, cling to, or steak our pride on. Holidays are food, they're decorations, and they're positive messages to the values of faith, family, and friends. Yet, there's this central picture we all carry in our minds... a house, warmly lit from within, where all these things are gathered and treasured.

Why are homes so sacred, even if only to the mind? Because they are something you fight for, and a place where you don't fight alone. The word 'home' embodies a group of people, whom you trust, love, and would die for. When someone goes home for the holidays, they're not driving to the bricks and wood holding a cement foundation together. They're driving to the memories they've built with those people.

By memories, I mean the good and the bad. 

The good times people are living right now are something special to behold. So are the the hard times they're trying to get through. When you stand in front of your home, gazing over its windows and siding, how many of those pass through your mind? 

Some people will smile while gazing at their home this holiday season... others will cry. Regardless, the holidays will come, they will go, and you will continue to move forward. And then you'll realize that you're still here and so are your loved ones. Despite the hardships, and more so because of the happiness.

 Let that fill you with a warmth- inside and out of your home- that's not limited to the holidays.

'Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,

    and for their children it will be a refuge.'

~Proverbs 14:26~