Anybody who has ever traveled with a farmer (or maybe it's just men in particular) knows how hard it is to get him to leave home to go somewhere -- anywhere.

After all, they have everything they want at home -- a comfy chair, a television and three square meals a day. Not to mention their business, pickup truck, cows, etc.

But of course, like most wives, I need to get away every once in awhile and such was the case in December 2003 when we made arrangements to go with our two sons and my mother to Portland, Oregon, where my older sister lives, along with my little brother (I know he's 6'3", he's still my little bro), sister-in-law and their two children.

Normally after getting hubby away from town, he would settle down and forget about farming (mostly), relax and have some fun.

Not this year, because we just happened to be heading into the backyard of "The Cow Who Stole Christmas."

Now I didn't make up that name. Beef experts started the tag after "The Cow" in question, an old dairy cow in Mabton, Wash., (originally from Canada) tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) popularly known as mad-cow disease on Dec. 22 of that year.

Of course, before going any further in my story, I need to tell the rest of the story. This was the first cow in America ever to be found with the disease. No one contracted the human prion disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) that is sometimes associated with BSE from this cow's meat.

In fact, the Center of Disease Control, states that only 153 people in the history of the world have ever contracted variant CJD and there is no proof that the disease was directly attributed to the consumption of contaminated meat products.

But on Dec. 25, 2003 heading into Portland, only 90 miles from the slaughter facility, we didn't know how it would turn out. At that time, we only knew that maybe, just maybe, the one cow could turn into 100.

In fact, I'm sure if I could have read my husband's mind on that vacation, he spent most of the time imagining the worst -- our family living on a street corner, with nothing but our luggage left, as the cow, corn and soybean markets crashed simultaneously.

Yes, I imagine he worried we'd be homeless by the time the ball dropped on New Year's Eve. We arrived in Portland on Christmas night (flights are cheaper) and I knew he wasn't relaxing much. I also knew it wasn't going to get better, even after he noticed a long line at Jack in The Box (on Christmas night, no less) near my brother's home.

No, he couldn't forget it, because it was everywhere. My sister-in-law had changed the week's menu to exclude beef because of unsubstantiated fears. (It's okay, every time we ate out, the rest of us ordered beef -- even my mom and sister!) And talk of that "Cow" was everywhere, the news, the paper and every Oregonian we met. They all wanted to talk to the "farmer" about his thoughts. He, of course, intelligently answered every question.

We spent several days at my sister-in-law's family's beach house, but it rained everyday, all day. And on the way home from the beach we had to drive through snow and ice.

Obviously this didn't help the mood! The next day the rest of us went sledding on Mount Hood, but hubby stayed home to relax (i.e. worry). He seemed mellower though when we came back. At least he was, until the boys told him the Prime Ribs we ate at the mountain restaurant cost $36 a piece. (Hey, at least it was beef.)

Now, don't get me wrong. We still had a great time on our vacation, because we got to spend so much time with our family, especially our niece and nephew. And despite his worrying (and I understand why he was) my farmer also managed to enjoy himself -- and relax -- a little, anyway.

But now every time I go to a beef conference, and the experts mention, the "Cow Who Stole Christmas" I admit -- I'm secretly happy.

Yes, happy -- because it reminds me that we weren't alone in our worry that holiday. (Okay, so misery does like company.)

But I'm also happy because the outcome shows that, despite a terrible mistake made by one slaughter facility, America still has the safest food supply in the world. And although lots of jokes are made about "Mad Cow Disease" the chance of someone actually contracting vCJD are 1 in 400 billion. In contrast, your odds of dieing in an automobile crash are 1 in 242 and your odds of death from a fall in the bathtub are 1 in 10,760. (Source: CDC)

You know what? My husband hasn't been back to Portland since. I wonder why?