Exiles

"Dozens of exiles were back, including some whom their families weren't expecting because they'd said they weren't coming, couldn't come, were sorry but it was just out of the question. But Christmas exerts powerful forces. We turn a corner in a wretched shopping mall adn some few bars of a tune turn a switch in our heads and gates open and tons of water thunder through Hoover Dam , the big turbines spin, electricity flows, and we get in our car and go back, like salmon."

-Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home, page 182

I'm not getting in a car, but I am getting in a plane to go back to Missouri. For the first time in several years for Christmas. Grandpa and I will find the right tree. I'll untangle the lights. We'll have Christmas Eve at Grandma's. But other than that, I don't really know what to expect.