HOUSTON – With short lines and few flight delays, flyers landing at Bush Intercontinental Airport had an easy time reaching loved ones Christmas Eve.
"It was great," mom Melanie Henry said. She arrived from Pennsylvania with her two sons and husband.
"The staff on the plane was really friendly. The kids behaved. We didn't see any issues with them," she said.
Henry's mom eagerly awaited the arrival of her grandchildren.
"We are going to bake peanut butter cookies this afternoon and of course Santa," Rosemary Herron said. "I'm waiting. I'm very excited."
Herron ran to her grandchildren as they arrived at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport.
"I didn't have hair the last time they saw me," Herron.
She was battling cancer. The family shared a laugh as Herron asked her grandkids whether they had more hair than she did.
At the other end of the terminal Army Pvt. Roger Morgan had just arrived from Washington State where he is stationed at Fort Lewis. He hadn't seen his family in about a year.
"I'm very excited," he said as he searched the crowd for his sister's face. After a few minutes he spotted her with a sign welcoming him home.
"I love you," he said as his sister cried during their hug.
Strangers watched the reunion and got tears in their eyes too.
For Morgan's family, more excitement is in store.
"My mom has no idea he's here," his sister, June Morgan, said. "We're dropping him off down the street and he's going to knock on the door as we start opening gifts for Christmas."