Peter Van Horton: The Christmas Scene
June 26, 2003

The Christmas lights blinked on and off in rhythmic tune. Bing Crosby's I’ll Be Home for Christmas playing on the record player. The gifts all wrapped and stashed around the tree.

Grandpa Joey was sitting on his recliner, smoking his pipe and reading the daily paper. My kids and that of my brother, Peter, and sister, Jennifer, are playing Nintendo ® games in the bedroom.

Lauren, my wife, is sitting beside me on the sofa as we watch the flames from the fireplace dance gleefully.

Grandma Ashley knitting a sweater for one of the kids, counting off the number of stitches. An afghan draped over her legs. It was one she made years ago when I was born. Now the material is coming apart and had been sewed back together.

The smell of cookies wafer over from the kitchen. Grandma Jean was a born cook. She often won blue ribbons from the state fair for pies, chili, and bean dip. Hell, just about anything.

Today is Christmas Eve and everyone was happy to be home. Grandpa Jacob was working downstairs on his final Christmas sermon. At the age of 80, he decided it was time to step down and let David run the ministry. He spent the last 4 years in seminary school in Dallas.

I guess it’s one thing to run a ministry, and another to be a pastor. When grandpa started in 1921, radio was in its infancy. What started on the street corner boxcar in Nashville, grew to become one of the most influential ministries on radio.

Christmas has always been a special time for the family. A time to reminisce about the good ol’ days and a time to look to the future.

Grandpa Joey had a stroke a few years ago that has prevented a lot of his free movement. Now he walks with a cane, but still smokes his pipe. He remembers Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye & Benny Goodman. At one time he played the clarinet on Benny’s band and even toured during the war years. Man, he told me so many stories I can hardly remember them all.

But, the one I liked the most was when he met Jean at an USO function in Nashville, 1942. The band had been on tour for 3 months raising money for war bonds. After a gig that hot August night, Joey met Jean at a nearby diner. He just had to see her.

At first Jean thought Joey was pushy, but eventually, as he grew to like him. I guess it was his charm or his style of music. Hell, he loved to travel, to see the country. Benny paid well, $40 a month. But to be with someone special, was all he dreamed of.

The war took a lot of manpower to run. With his disability, Joey could only dream of fighting the Germans. He wanted to be with Jimbo at Normandy, but Jim died reaching the beach.

To this day, he has his brother’s flag on the fireplace. A constant reminder of what family is all about.