FAMILY blog
I t’s that time of year again: Time for family, time
wrapped up in our own toys and devices, we’d blast our
for festive cheer, time for giving, and yes, time for
usual stack of CDs (an eclectic mix of James Taylor to the
the dreaded family holiday travel adventure. Most
Dixie Chicks) until we came upon a clear holiday radio
parents cringe at the idea of a long-distance road
station to sing-along to.

trip — being in confined quarters with backseat sibling
battles over who gets to sit where, who gets to choose the
Inevitably, it wasn’t all fun and games. With every
next movie and who gets to play with what toy. There’s
trip, there was some type of sibling drama, sickness, an
always at least one passenger complaining about being
unexpected detour or car emergency. But basically, over
too hot, too cold, too bored or too hungry. And of course,
time, we became masters of holiday traveling.

there’s the quintessential question asked over and over,
“Are we there yet?”
Believe it or not, somewhere along those myriads of
highway miles, I grew to appreciate holiday travel.

Growing up, I had my fair share of holiday road trips. I
There’s something about extended time in the car with
spent 10 different Christmas vacations traveling by car
family that makes you feel a special kind of closeness…
with my parents and three sisters from my hometown
the adventure, the conversations, the absolute simplicity
in Houston, TX, to the corn-filled Midwest to visit my
of nothing but the open road ahead…some of the best
grandparents. family moments can happen when you’re all in this
big adventure together. Looking back, some of my
The stress began even before we loaded ourselves into the
best holiday memories involve my family and I in that
car — the planning, packing and cleaning. Yes, cleaning.

crammed SUV.

(Even though all I could think was, we aren’t even going
to be home!) We’d spend the whole day before our trip
So, if you’re one of the lucky ones traveling this holiday
dusting, vacuuming and sweeping so that we (ahem, my
season, just remember to take a breath and try to relax.

mother) could have a pristine house to come home to. It
Focus on the togetherness of holiday travel instead of the
didn’t make sense to me at the time, but now I get it —
stress of it, and you might actually find that you enjoy
when you’re traveling for 15-plus hours with four kids
being on the road again.

over the holidays, you don’t want to come home and have
housecleaning on your to-do list.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday and safe travels,
With my mother supervising the cleaning and packing, to
prepare for those long hours on the road, my dad would
strap our luggage on top of the car to leave room for my
sisters and I to watch movies on our little box TV (oh, the
pre DVD-installed car days). Eventually, when movie-
watching grew tiresome, my parents helped us pass the
time with classic car games like “The Alphabet Game,”
“I Spy,” and the “License Plate Game.” If we weren’t
6 December 2015 washingtonFAMILY.com
Britni Petersen
Editor Washington FAMILY Magazine
bpetersen@thefamilymagazine.com




washingtonFAMILY.com December 2015
7