Whatever can go wrong WILL go wrong

Let's say, just hypothetically, that the night before your flight home for christmas, you have a rather disturbing dream that your aunt commits suicide and your plane is hijacked. Already slightly jittery upon awaking, you drive to the airport in an ungodly snow storm only to find that your flight has been canceled due to said ungodly snow storm. You are rebooked on a flight departing 5 hours later, but by the time the 5 hours are up, the weather is so bad in Chicago (your connection) that nothing is flying in or out. You sit on the runway for an hour and a half before finally being given the okay to take off, but the delay causes you to miss your connection to Portland. The customer service lady would make you want to cry when she then books you on a flight to Indianapolis to Denver to Portland, because this puts you landing about 24 hours after you woke up and last ate. And your body would probably not do well under these types of conditions.

Once arriving in Oregon, while originally excited to get out of the Cleveland snow, you might, hypothetically, find the Pacific Northwest in the middle of what many consider to be the worst snow and ice storm they can remember. You would need to be towed up the hill to your house repeatedly while bewaring downed live power lines. You would wake up to a world encased in ice and eventually be completely snowed in and with no power. And church wouldn't even be canceled.

Despite the craziness, it would still be the best weekend of the year. The annual caroling would go on as scheduled, and the inevitable moment of grandpa starting us on an impossibly high pitch for a round of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" would have everyone in hysterics. Your survivor man cousin who gets stuck in Hood River due to road closures would buy a 3 day gym pass for something to do, and it would be strangely comforting to know that there is no one in the world more equipped to handle being stranded with nothing more than himself and his car. Meeting another cousin's brand new baby girl middle-named after his brother who recently passed away is so sweet, it might make you want to cry. Hypothetically. Because it's Christmas. It's tradition. It's family.