Christmas Whirlwind

The overcast skies and miles of brown grassy plains on the road from Houston to Hathaway invoked in my mind a familiar setting of Christmases past. The bleakness was a pointed contrast to the warm, deep hues of blues and greens that I’d left behind in Hawaii, yet it was uniquely comforting. Five years ago I couldn’t get away fast enough, but there’s a warm magnetism that draws me back a few times a year, further cementing Louisiana as “home” in my heart.

Dad picked me up from the airport on December 23 and in four-and-a-half hours delivered me from Houston to Mom’s house where my two sisters, Mom, and 30 lbs of boiled crawfish awaited. Mom told me a day or so before I left Hawaii that she’d have crawfish for me, and unfortunately none of my friends there understood the significance. Dinner was capped off with some of Dad’s home brew (last year’s Christmas gift was put to good use) of a mild Oktoberfest.

The four days I was home flew by as quickly as you’d imagine when splitting time between Mom’s and Dad’s as well as visiting with all the family in town for Christmas. On Christmas morning my sisters and I were afloat in gifts from Santa. We unwrapped them leisurely for at least two hours in what must undeniably be Mom’s favorite day of the year. She was somewhat limited by my luggage allowance on the way back to Hawaii, so she did some investigative research and provided Courtney and I with gift cards to all of our favorite places back on Oahu. In the grand finale of present-opening, I was bowled over by a zoom lens that I’d been eying for a couple of months.

Two days post-Christmas, Delta whisked me away to meet up with Courtney and her family in Jackson Hole, WY. My intermediate skiing abilities were further honed under the lustrous protection of the Grand Tetons. The weather was generous during our four days there, and I was soon whisked away once again by Delta with extraordinary soreness, but no broken bones.

Now it’s a brief New Year’s Eve stop in Atlanta, then on to five days in NYC. I hope the next 23 years are as exciting as the last.