No place like home....

Whoever wrote the lyrics, "There's no place like home for the holidays," knew a little something about ice, snow and slick roads around Christmas time.

Before heading Up North for my family celebration Friday, we had to snowblow yet another 3-4 inches of "white Christmas" from our driveway. Some of the road conditions were challenging but, all in all, it was an event-free trip up.

Part of my comfort level (yes, I tend to be a nervous passenger when roads are slick) was due to that fact I was in the back seat. I let Casey ride shotgun. Plus, I was watching my Mamma Mia movie on the new portable DVD player Santa brought. That works slick! Time sure goes by a lot faster -- and my mind was totally off the road.

The only bad part about the trip was that there were only 4 of us instead of 5. Clay couldn't make it at the last minute. That was very disappointing. Later, when we had our annual family program, we coerced, er, recruited my twin to do his part. She did an admirable job for not having participated in the dress rehearsal. (Just kidding. It was not a big production!)

All in all, it was great family gathering as always and, as always, we missed those who couldn't make it because of distance. We gathered in the fellowship hall at a retreat center just up the road from my parents'. The last time we held it there, my nephew Tony, who was home this year on leave from the Army, had just been born on Christmas Day. My other nephews, now grown and bringing wives or girlfriends of their own, were all around 4-7 years old and nearly impossible to contain! My how times change.

One thing that hasn't changed is the love we feel when we are together as family -- all 30-something of us. My parents said it best when they remarked, "What a blessing it is to look around this room at all these people and we can say 'They're ours!'"

After the party, we headed into Luck -- through thick fog and icy roads -- to the hotel. This morning, we met my parents for breakfast (my sister stopped by, too) then hit the road early. We knew it was going to be cooling off at some point today and it was predicted the roads would ice up quickly. Somehow we missed that, thankfully, so we were home in just under 4 hours. Pretty good timing.

As I unpacked and stared at the extra cookies and treats we took home and don't need, hubby was up on the roof chipping away at ice in the gutters. Ahh, there's no place like home...