Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Seven hours of quality family time

I’m jealous of people who have annual holiday traditions.

My family has biannual holiday traditions -- because Bess thinks Thanksgiving at her family's house in Tennessee is kind of a big deal.

It's not. At least, the drive is way too long for Thanksgiving.

And she thinks Christmas at my family's house is kind of a big deal. It's not. At least, the drive is way too short for Christmas.

So every odd-numbered year it's Thanksgiving at her house and Christmas at my house. (Yawn.) And every even-numbered year it's Thanksgiving at my house and Christmas at hers. (Wild applause.)

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the drive we make before Christmas of every even-numbered year.

That's when we head up to Bess' parent's log cabin in the northwest corner of Tennessee. By northwest corner, I mean it's a stone's throw from Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky.

It's a seven-hour drive, if no interruptions.

One year, we got pulled over in Mississippi by a police officer who told us one of our headlights was out. Then he asked me if it was OK if he touched my van. I told him sure.

"Sometimes this works," he said, and he opened his hand and whapped the headlight. It flickered back to full strength.

I asked him for directions to the nearest auto parts store so I could get a replacement.

He looked puzzled. "Why would you want to do that?" he said, and he pointed to the headlight. "Now it's working just fine."

This Christmas, our unexpected pit stop occurred in Jackson, Tenn., when Bess made us stop at a post office so she could mail our Christmas cards. This, of course, involved waiting in a long line to put international postage on several of the cards.

So the kids and I drove across the street to use the restroom at a Burger King, where we found several old timers watching the end of the Miami Beach Bowl and rooting for Memphis.

The Tigers won.

It was a smooth trip. The highlight for me was hearing my children's reaction when I abruptly changed the Pandora station from Linkin Park to "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming."

This year, the youngest child announced he'd spent his whole life sitting in the very back of the van and that this time he was sitting in one of the captain's chairs in the middle row.

His siblings graciously obliged. It was their gift to him. But they still picked on him during the trip so that things wouldn't seem too out of the ordinary.

All in all, my family actually enjoys taking long trips together. We like listening to music and swapping stories and rolling through small towns and big farms.

I'm blessed that way.

In Dyersburg, the last town before the cabin, we passed a bank with this sign: "Have an Unbelievably Great Christmas."

I suppose that's better than just a merry one.

We did, and I hope you did too. Happy New Year.

Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, executive editor, at dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Seven hours of quality family time."