Antarctica Starts Here.

James Brown, requisat en pace When I get home, I'll play some good, old fashioned LA Style in your memory, because it was That Song, the first track of Best of Rave volume one that got me listening to you after all.

Lyssa and I got up around 0800 EST/EDT, when our circadian rhythms had decided that we'd gotten enough sleep, and got ourselves going for the long haul back to Pittsburgh to visit my family. Lyssa's father had gone to the nursing home to visit Grandma Pat before we'd awakened, so we waited for a while until everyone was up and around and then exchanged gifts. Lyssa got a new digital camera, a new crockpot, and a Joy of Tea Collection for her headline gifts, while I got the Doctor Who season 27/1 boxed set, and a new jumper and pair of jeans (which I'm wearing right now). I should also update everyone on the condition of Lyssa's father: He came home late last night and is doing fine. He's on medication to handle his asthma and is due for a medical workup in the near future.

We stopped off for free coffee and fast breakfast sandwiches at the local Sheetz (which has free coffee every Christmas Day) and then hit the highway headed northward once again. The roads were mostly empty and the weather nice, so it was smooth sailing back home. Downtown Pittsburgh is almost dead on the holidays, so it's an ideal shortcut at this time of year. All in all, it took us a little over an hour to get back to Pittsburgh, and thence to the homestead.

Home really is a place where you an come back and they'll welcome you with open arms and a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen. When we came in with our arms laden with presents for everyone, it was as if we'd only gone to Giant Eagle ten minutes ago. My mother had a tapas lunch on and a chicken in the electric rotisserie (thanks, Judy!), and we sat at the dinner table and caught up on the events of the past few months (including our ill-fated trip back home on Saturday).

Gifts came after lunch and coffee.. I got a new pocketwatch, another jumper, a couple of CDs, and a figure-a-day origami calendar. Lyssa got a shirt, three books, four skeins of bright blue baby alpaca yarn, a tealight puzzle set (the tealight holders are jigsaw puzzle pieces), and a trio of hanging fishbowls that double as area lamps.

We sat around this afternoon enjoying each other's company and watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which neither of us had seen yet. It's a rare movie that's as good as the original, and this movie definitely fits that bill.

I really don't know what else to write.. family's family. I know it's the little things all added together that make it important, but if you asked me to describe what they were, I honestly couldn't tell you. I went home, for all that implies. I got to spend time with the people I love, talk about people that I haven't seen in ages, and.. well.. be a family.

It pains me to not have words for these concepts, but there you have it. After everything that's happened, that little house in Pittsburgh is still home.