Like so many families, the Weaver family gathered at Grandma's house in Cresson Christmas Day.
Freshly opened gifts and empty boxes were scattered about, and with Christmas dinner behind them for another year, so too will be the time spent with one another as everyone makes their way home.
But outside Ruth Weaver's home, amidst the Christmas decorations on her front porch, the yellow ribbons tied to the rail are a reminder that this Christmas will mean a little more to the people inside.
Like scores of families across the region, the Weavers will send one of their own - a grandson, son, brother, nephew and cousin - off to war next month after an all-too-brief visit home.
"This is a very bittersweet visit,'' said Hope Benning, sister of Spc. Brian Weaver, a Stryker driver for Company B, Second Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, one of more than 160 men attached to the Pennsylvania National Guard's Frankstown Armory who were deployed in September.
''We're really thankful to be together this year,'' Benning said.
Loretto native Brian Weaver returned from Camp Shelby, Miss., Monday night and leaves again Jan. 2.
It's the longest the 23-year-old had been away from home, barring a short stint helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina three years ago, and once he departs for Kuwait en route to Iraq in mid-January, it will be another nine months before he returns home.
"I missed everybody," a soft-spoken Brian Weaver said as he visited with his family.
Ruth Weaver, who has been through it before waiting for her own sons - including Brian's father, Wayne, who served five years in the Marines - and another grandson to come home from serving overseas, said she "worries all the time about everybody."
Her advice to families who are going through it for the first time: "Just pray," she said. "Just pray."
Praying is what has kept Brian Weaver's mother going the past three months.
''You don't know how much I missed him,'' Carla Weaver said.
''It's been very quiet since he left."
Saying goodbye this time will be harder. When Brian Weaver left in September, although it was going to be the longest amount of time he'd been gone from home, his mother knew he would be training stateside.
''This is going to be a different story,'' Carla Weaver said, the emotion obvious in her voice.
It's hard to talk about, she said, because she watches the news and hears stories of other families who have lost their loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
''It really hurts. He's my only son, and he means the world to me,'' she said.
Benning said the company's family readiness group is beginning to come together, although because the unit hasn't had to deploy in recent years, there has been a lot to do to create the network of support families will need when their soldiers are serving.
Benning said monthly meetings are slated to give families support and alleviate pressure soldiers may feel when they aren't at home to take care of their families' needs.
"It's hard for a husband to deal with that, and they feel they are not able to handle it because they're not there," Benning said.
For now, the Weavers are just enjoying the time their soldier still has at home.
"We have a lot to be thankful for," Ruth Weaver said.
''I hate the thoughts of it coming to an end,'' Carla Weaver said.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7446.
