The Fourth Post of Christmas: Home for the Holidays

It's midnight, and in just six hours we'll be pulling out of our driveway to start a two-day journey from the frigid Midwest to the sunny South. We'll spend 20 hours in the car as we go from Chicago to Houston, but we are prepared. We've borrowed audio books and dvds from cousins, and added hundreds of Christmas songs to the MP3. In true Fawcett fashion, we've packed way too much stuff for one little Scion, but we'll make it fit somehow. We even hope to have room for the Christmas wreath that hangs in our front window, but have given up on fitting in our little tree. He'll get left behind, but we've packed the ornaments and Advent wreath to continue our Jesse Tree journey at Grandpa's.

Our kids have been excellent travelers, and we've made this trip as a family several times in the last few years. We enjoy the car time together--talking, laughing, listening to audio books and music, and watching a movie as the day gets long. We stop for breakfast a few hours into the trip, but eat a packed lunch on the go to cut down on stoppage time. For me, the trip this year is even more special as I head home for the holidays. This will be my first Christmas back home in nine years, and oh, how I've anticipated this celebration! As the song says, "There's no place like home for the holidays."

Here's a brief list of some of the unique things that being home for Christmas means:

Christmas Eve buffet which includes my personal favorite and very gourmet dish--Rotel Cheese Dip (yes, this is made up primarily of Velveeta processed cheese product which some people, like my husband, haven't acquired finely tuned tastes to appreciate)

Random and bizarre gifts from Dad that seem suspiciously like give-aways from companies or mail-in rebates

Stockings filled with toiletries (Hey, there's nothing wrong with receiving a lifetime's supply of shampoo in your stocking.)

A Christmas movie, usually chosen by Dad (until he was demoted after the year of Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the Ozarks) and watched together after all the festivities are over and everyone is practically falling asleep

A homemade Christmas program in which each family member must perform something and those more dramatic, show-stealing family members perform several things

Mom's Christmas Caramel Pecan Rolls

The Carpenters

The Christmas village underneath the tree with my Dad's childhood toy train puffing smoke as it chugs along

And, lots and lots of laughter!

Over the past nine years, we've started new traditions in our own little family--some taken from Nathanael's heritage and some that have evolved on their own. We've mixed them and matched them and added them to a few traditions from my childhood and in the process, we have created a new kind of Christmas--one I hope my boys will long to race home to when they're miles and even continents away someday.