Heading  home on  Christmas Eve, from early Christmas at Mom and Dad’s.  On that long and lonely highway they sing about, across the snow covered Nebraska prairie, flat land gleaming for miles in the soft moonlight.  Not much traffic, the kids in back asleep clutching a new toy in their arms.  Christmas carols circle their way out of the 8 track player as I look at the Christmas lit farms we pass.  Silent Night and Away in the Manger have added meaning on this cold rural drive.  A lone semi truck passes, working it’s way to the next stop.
    Christmas on the road, away from home and family.  Momma takes the CB radio mike and simply says, “Merry Christmas everyone”.  And over the airwaves out of the cold empty land around us comes a “Merry Christmas” from the farms with their base units and other unseen travelers.  Not quite so lonely after all.  
     Tonight I find us on that same stretch of road, listening as Christmas carols spin out of the car’s CD player.  Two grandson’s sleep in the back, clutching their new toys from an early Christmas at Great Grandpa’s.  The prairie’s still flat, covered in moonlit snow, cold and empty but for the occasional Christmas lit farm house.  The CB radio is past history, a link now gone to those around us.  Not much traffic till a semi hauling it’s load passes by.  I look over to Momma.  “Merry Christmas everyone”,  she says with a smile.  The air waves are silent.  “Merry Christmas” we say to the prairie around us as we wend our way home.  Not quite so lonely after all.