Backpackers Zoe Hannah and partner Trent Burns will be spending Christmas at The Farm in Whangaruru. In the days before Christmas, I’m typically on a mad dash from my shared flat in Washington, D.C. to the sometimes-snowy comfort of my parents’ warm Pennsylvania home. A three-hour drive along interstate 95, with the requisite stop at a packed-full grocery store to pick up shrimp cocktail and a bottle of wine, brings my partner and I to the town we grew up in. On the day of the winter solstice, a Pennsylvania family like mine will be getting ready to hole up in their home for a few days – we’ll put the fire on, do some puzzles, and play in the snow if we’re lucky.