Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight

[DFW]

This is the one time of the year when we are all under one roof. My wife, our two daughters (one lives near Frankfurt, the other lives in New York City), my wife's mom, who is 91, and our new granddaughter, who is 7 months old today. The baby's father is here, too.

Within the next 24 hours, we scatter to the four winds again. Mom-in-law will be driven back to her home in her tiny village in northwestern Germany. Daughters, boyfriend and baby will drive down to the Lake of Constance (Bodensee), where the fiancé of the elder one will join them after flying in from New York to Zürich, and driving up. Then they will all be driving over to Ischgl (don't even try unless your German is fluent) in the Austrian Alps for a few days of skiing. My wife and I will fly to Charleston, South Carolina via Paris and Atlanta, hopefully with our luggage making the connections with us (I fear the worst).

I hope for peaceful hours for those that are with family, friends, or alone, and a brief reprieve from adversity for those who are facing it. I am aware that not all will get it.

[Tobin S.]

1. Thanks DFW, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

It's been a good year here in Tobinland, and I'm going to try to spread as much cheer, love, and light around as I can. I'm still working on developing those qualities, but knowing that they need development is half the battle. Peace.

[Rorey]

4. Good for you!

I've found a lot of new joy over the last seven weeks , and also through making some forward-moving decisions about my personal life. Now when someone asks me how I am, I find myself saying "GREAT!" and meaning it. Saying that seems to be having a ripple effect, and I almost always see a smile in return.

Merry Christmas!

[DFW]

8. Glad to hear it.

I know you haven't always had a smooth ride, so it's good to hear you're looking forward (and upward) to the future.

[underpants]

2. Merry Christmas

🎄

[DFW]

11. Thanks, and the same back!

When we were small and taking elementary school French, our Dad got a cartoon book called "Fractured French," where popular French phrases were deliberately mistranslated as what they sounded like in English. E.g. "Je t'adore" was translated as "shut the door."

So, when I started taking Latin, my dad suggested I start on "Fractured Latin (I never did)." His first suggestion was "sub ubi (literally: under where)" to be the Latin expression for underwear (does anyone really know what they wore under those togas?).

[Rorey]

3. Merry Christmas!

I'm meeting "the in-laws" for the first time this morning. It's long overdue. They're here in Colorado getting to know their very first grandchild.

I'm looking forward to a nice morning, followed by what will probably be an awkward afternoon if my soon-to-be-ex husband decides to stick around the house today. I just hope he's not all whiny about not being included in the Christmas morning breakfast at my son's house. It'll be really nice if he decides to go see some of his out of town relatives.

[DFW]

9. Best of luck for that working out

I met my in-laws-to-be about 5 months after meeting my wife-to-be. That was December, 1974 (we had met in July). I've never had an ex, so I have no idea what that's like (in no hurry to find out, either--after 44 years, I'm out of practice!).

My poor mom-in-law gets frustrated when I speak to my daughters in English, which she doesn't understand a word of, but she has accepted it. Our girls are fully bilingual. I have always spoken to them in English, where my wife has always spoken to them in German. They say we both sound "weird" when speaking the "other" language to them, although I always speak German with my wife.

[steve2470]

5. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I hope the holiday goes well for everyone

[DFW]

10. Thanks, Steve!

You've actually been to our house, so you can imagine what it must be like here to have the place packed like a Holiday Inn near the beach on July 4th.

Our two girls plus boyfriend plus baby leave in 2-3 hours, and then it's the usual panic packing probably until 2 minutes before we need to leave for the airport.

Plus ça change, as the saying goes.........

[calimary]

6. Merry Christmas and Holiday Hugs!

[DFW]

12. Thanks Calimary!

Same to you from the cold and rainy Rheinland!

[Docreed2003]

7. Merry Christmas and safe travels to you and yours!

[DFW]

13. Thanks, we have a LOT of travels to complete before we can declare ourselves safe.

But, we have weathered a few gazillion miles so far, so a couple of dozen thousand more probably won't add much to the equation.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. Glad to hear that your family is gathered in your home today, my dear DFW!

I know you're having a fantastic time. And I know the food will be exemplary and bountiful, thanks to your wife's talents!

I suspect there will be some folks in the main room, and some in that beautiful side room with the fossils! Room for everyone to spread out...

Have a lovely day and a great trip to Charleston!

[DFW]

15. Footnote:

We actually made our connection. Our luggage did not. Delta said Air France never even loaded it onto the plane in Düsseldorf although we checked in an hour before the flight left, and the plane was only half full. Air Chance says it's today's flight to Atlanta. I'll believe that when Delta says it on a truck from the Charleston Airport on its way to our hotel.