Holiday Weekend Revelations

---Picking out a Christmas tree is downright pleasant when there's warmth, sunshine and the absence of bickering, control-jockeying teenage niece and nephew siblings. They came to a relatively quick agreement, and Lorena had it all decorated in time for the big family dinner that night.

---Nothing like getting the winter weather driving practice in as early as possible. Black ice not even an hour from home; about three hours in pelting snow and slush on the turnpike in the Allegheny mountains, including dodging a fresh spin-out? Fun times.

---I'm getting better at just saying nothing around my father-in-law. Not what I'd call good at it yet, but better. After he casually tells us he only uses the Authorized Vehicles Only turnarounds on the highway if there are no cars coming, I simply couldn't help myself. 'Umm, dad, you might not want to do that, since it's illegal and you can get a ticket for that'. After the third comment of how foggy it was outside, I finally said through clenched teeth while gripping the steering wheel and watching the tachometer get all squirrely, 'No dad, that's snow'. After he casually told us he's cut down his speed from 70 to 60mph on country roads, both Tim and I more or less calmly informed him he probably shouldn't have been going 70 in the first place. And after the 7th or 8th comment of how many trucks were going south, I calmly said, 'No dad, that direction is east.'

And he declared he could have driven this 500-mile trip, we just don't have confidence in him. 'Couldn't have done a better job driving myself!' he compliments us as we are arriving back home. To that, yes: I said nothing.

---So Tim and I didn't make the hour drive out to Hershey by ourselves and tour the hotel grounds and go out to eat at Harvest. *shrugs* There was really nothing on the menu that looked spectacularly different than we could get close to home, and it all looked a bit overpriced. What felt right was hanging out with the family, cooking and serving and cleaning up, and enjoying absolute mountains of delectable leftovers for days.

---I really do enjoy cooking in other people's kitchens. If they're willing to let me help, that's where I'm going to be hanging out. Multi-meat dinner for 10? No sweat for the helper-outer. And the sous-chef duties were most appreciated by my sister-in-law Diana.

---After listening to 16 straight hours of XM radio Christmas Traditions music in the vehicle, I'm actually not sick of it. In fact, I'd like to download some more Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Glen Miller, and all the other big band holiday stuff we heard as the miles rolled by.

---I can now say I've walked on a small part of the Appalachian Trail. In the moonlight, even. If you start a hike in the afternoon in late November midway across Pennsylvania, you are going to run out of daylight fast.

---Am I shrinking, or are all teenagers tall these days?

---Chocolate fondue really does make already good stuff taste even better. Fruit salad, cinnamon French toast, oatmeal, pumpkin bars...