Make It Home (Juliana Hatfield)

We're home... pulling into the driveway about 10:30 last night - it was a grand gathering, despite the hit-and-run aspect. I've spent the day doing laundry, finding homes for the many wonderful gifts we received and making lists so I can send out thank you notes tomorrow - tiredness combined with my need to put my house back in order combined with enjoying peace and quiet after the whirlwind trip finds me reluctant to type out a play-by-play... but rather highlights of our holiday trip. Sure was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, wonderful to have today off and know that weekend R&R looms as well - there's no place like home indeed... <3

~ savoring fluffy-in-the-middle, crispy-around-the-edges pancakes at Cracker Barrel on the way to South Carolina...

~ fostering the Christmas spirit with an abundance of holiday mixes, my own and friends', in the car...

~ watching home movies at my husband's sister's house, motivating me days later to ask for my mom's 8-mm film so I can transfer it to DVDs too...

~ appreciating reflections of holiday lights on the pond outside Dot's home, and toasting to her husband (my father-in-law, recently passed) on what would have been his 83rd birthday...

~ enjoying Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese food at my sister's...

~ reliving Christmas mornings with my own children through Julia's excitement at her own Santa presents...

~ picking up my aunt from the nursing home so she could spend the day with us...

~ receiving so many amazingly intuitive presents: a handmade purple tie-dye fleece blanket from my niece, a new Santa for my collection from my sister, a stunning pair of purple and silver earrings from my brother, an earring rack from my mom, the Once soundtrack from my daughter, Tom Brokaw's Boom! from my sons, pepper spray from my husband (he supports my independence but still worries about me... :-)

~ viewing Love Actually (with two Joni moments) with the clan much later in the evening...

~ motivating to my mom's the next day for a comforting fireplace, an informative and loving chat with her (and my siblings) about her health and a challenging Scrabble game (which I won!)...

~ piling back into the car Thursday morning for the 12-hour drive home, grateful for the time together, my children's terrific behavior and my husband's prioritizing of family, despite the chaotic circumstances...

~ Trip mantra: "it is what it is" - whatever it was, we adapted, we learned, we grew... <3

SONG: Make It Home by Juliana Hatfield

BOOK: Home for the Holidays: Stories and Art Created for the Benefit of Habitat for Humanity by Gene Stelten (Editor)

POEM: Leavings by Robin Robertson

Still sleepwalking through her life,

I wrap her up

and we go through the snow that fell all night

and all through this Christmas morning:

her trainers barely denting the whitened lawn, her

two strides for every stride of mine.

Leaving her home

to the warmth of the house

I step back out, and see where my footprints turn

and walk through hers,

the other way—following the trail

of rabbit and deer into the unreachable silences of snow.

I can bring nothing of this back intact.

My face is smoke, my body water,

my tracks are made of snow.

The next morning is a dripping thaw, and winter

is gone from the grass—except for a line

of white marks going nowhere:

the stamped ellipses of impacted snow;

everything gone, leaving just this, this ghost-tread,

these wafer-thin footsteps of glass.

QUOTE: "For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home." ~ W.J. Ronald Tucker