Every year at this time “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943, is the song that always gets to me. It was written as the point of view of a soldier stationed overseas during World War II writing a letter to his family.
In 1967, when I was in Vietnam and hoping I’d be able to enjoy Christmas again in my hometown, the message was the same.
By the fall of 1969, I actually made it home and was able to enjoy all the things that make holidays in our Valley of the Moon so special.
Compared to this year’s many Christmas activities, from the Plaza lighting festivities to the tractor parade and then Santa’s arrival, celebrations in December of 1969 were modest affairs.
There were lights and decorations around town and in the Plaza, put up by the Sonoma Volunteer firefighters, and a life-sized creche, complete with manger, in front of the big palm tree. The Sonoma Plaza Merchants Association encouraged local shop owners to decorate their windows with strings of little white lights and local school kids were encouraged to create Christmas art (painted on 4 foot by 8 foot plywood panels) that were displayed all season in the Plaza.
Many local service organizations held food, clothing and gift drives for the less fortunate, and there were many parties and dinners to which the public was invited. The Christmas food basket project where local volunteers and church groups distributing packages to the needy was underway.
Anywhere you walked around town, there were Christmas carols playing in the stores.
Most merchants were fellow Sonomans and active members of the community. Shopping at home was a way of sharing the season with friends.
In 1969, having experienced what it was like to be in harm’s way, so far away from home, the very simple act of walking around town and greeting longtime friends was the real joy of being home for Christmas.
I bought most of the gifts for my family then. That, too, was a special thing, because the store owners knew the family members for whom I was buying something. It was just about as cozy and intimate as you can imagine.
But there was one thing that almost made that first Christmas home since Vietnam a lot different – A big Rolling Stones rock concert was scheduled for Sears Point Raceway on Dec. 6. The top story on front page of the Index-Tribune, Dec. 4 issue, announced “Rolling Stones here Saturday.” But it wasn’t just Mick Jagger and company. The concert was to include Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Grateful Dead. It was supposed to be some kind of west coast holiday version of Woodstock right here in our Valley of the Moon.
But on the same day that issue of the I-T was delivered to local readers, the concert was moved to Altamont Speedway in Contra Costa County. The reasons for the sudden change in location had to do with a last-minute disagreement with the then owner of the Sonoma raceway.
In hindsight it was a good thing, because the Altamont event took an ugly turn.
The Stones chose to use the Hells Angels as security and it went downhill from there. Reports from the concert were not about the music or how much people enjoyed it, but about the violence the occurred, including a killing and three accidental deaths. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and there was lots of property damage. Sears Point and our valley dodged a bullet.
So, it turned out that 1969 was a typical and classic hometown Christmas in my hometown the way I always remembered.