We travelled to Missouri for Christmas. It was glorious to be with Cherry Pie and to visit as many friends and family as possible. We stayed in my brother’s basement.
Glorious as it was, the stress of hauling all the presents out and back and the stress of trying to see everyone who wanted time with us was pretty overwhelming. I felt like I had to shortchange my family several times to keep commitments with friends. I was constantly apologizing to someone or feeling guilty.
I remembered a time, several years ago, when my little sister, Katie, changed plans and did not come to Missouri for Christmas. I gave her a hard time for not visiting. How ignorant I was of the difficulties of holiday travel.
Traveling meant that we did not finish our Advent puzzle on time. But the Scooter Pies completed it when we got home.
One thing I had been worried about was how we would feel coming back to Monument Valley.
Would we be sad to return?
Some of the kids (Key Lime Pie) were really sad about leaving Missouri and their friends.
But the Man of the House and I both felt relief and joy as we neared our home here in the valley. I felt a strong sense that we are supposed to be here.
The Man of the House was so drained of energy from the frantic pace of celebration and visiting in Missouri, as well as not having had time to prepare for the new school semester, that he was impossible to live with for the 3 days we had at home before school began again. It was miserable for us all.
I’ve decided that in the future, we will not travel to Missouri on breaks that are less than two weeks. Instead we will rest at home or possibly do outdoorsy things that renew his energy and joy in life. We will visit Missouri in the summer when we have more time to see everyone, more time to recover after the trip, and less holiday craziness.
There is a direct flight from Springfield, MO, to Phoenix, AZ, and we can fly Cherry Pie to us.
As I write all this, I feel like it is also certain that I will break my own rule from time to time. Maybe there is no good balance when you live far from family.
Marvelous Pigs in Satin 
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