Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Home to their beds for a few impatient hours of sleep, then finally, the big moment. The kids rush to the towering blue spruce they helped chop down and decorate.
Presents are everywhere.
For as long as Carol and Ray Briggs can remember, that's been their holiday ritual. It is an indicator of how much their lives have changed since last Dec. 25 that this year the tradition-conscious Briggses will break the custom of Christmas morning at home. But not this year. A lot of weird things have happened to Amy's family since January, when her dad, Ray, then 38, signed a paper saying he'd transfer from the General Motors Corp. plant in Janesville to the new truck plant in Fort Wayne. Nothing has been the same since.