My relatives would have the get together on Christmas eve and I would travel 42 miles down the 101 & 405 freeway. Traffic slow the time. 2 hours+. On Christmas day however the road is wide open. I could never convince them to have Christmas on Christmas day....
I got stuck on the 405 one time when a CHiPs officer was killed on his motorcycle on the ramp between the 101 and 405. They closed the entire interchange in all directions. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get from LAX to Ventura.