Holiday travel hell

[DFW]

5. How's this for holiday travel hell?

My elder daughter, who lives in the States (NYC), checked in online this afternoon for her flight here (Düsseldorf). She used her passport to check in, and then took the train out to the airport. When she went to check in, she noticed her little snug purse with BOTH her passports (German and American) had been lifted from her somewhere in the Air Train. With no passport, she can't travel to Germany, and her 89 year old grandmother made the trip from her small village in northern Germany down here to the Rheinland in the hope of having her once-a-year visit with her granddaughter. She is not in the nest of health and is completely bummed out that she might not see her granddaughter again. Our younger daughter moved back here to Germany after graduating Law School, and is only a 2 hour train ride away (Frankfurt).

IF the elder one can get an emergency passport tomorrow, she still has to decide if it's worth it to come all the way here for 2 days (we're leaving for South Carolina on the 26th), and due to the air fare situation, it will cost her an extra $1100 because she missed her flight tonight. It would be the first Christmas all 4 four of us would not have been together EVER.

How's THAT for holiday hell?