Aglow... the opening paragraph.

Dusk was falling and the curling ribbon of the old familiar highway began to glow as drivers tuned on their lights. Because it was the Christmas season, the familiar sight took on a festive magic. The lights looked like strings of red and white beads, strung like garland around the southern Missouri hills. Ashley felt warm tingles of excitement for the first time the entire drive. The trip home for Christmas was usually a lot more…thrilling…than this. “That’s life for you,” she thought, “Always so different than you expect it to be.”