I agree with the "get south as fast as you can" crowd. Also the idea of flying home. We did the after Christmas trip once, now we leave Thanksgiving weekend for Tucson, then fly home in late Dec for Christmas.
If the weather is holding we prefer I-55 to St Louis, I-44 to OK City, I-40 to Amarillo, then drop a short ways down I-27, to US 60 to Clovis and then US 70 to Las Cruces. US 70 across NM is good four lane all the way with very little traffic.
For what it's worth we usually stop at
Trailer Village in Roswell and get a good dinner at
Pepper's Grille
