All of a sudden one of the WNBL's toughest road trips doesn't seem so bad for Marianna Tolo and the Canberra Capitals.

Because a clash in Adelaide followed by a game in Perth pales in comparison to what Tolo's family did just to spend Christmas together.

Mum Rosie and dad Mick packed the car and drove through the night last Thursday to arrive in Brisbane bright and early the next morning to pick up Tolo's brother Adam.

Then he found himself behind the wheel for the next leg - all the way to Sydney to pick up their sister Kate on the Saturday morning before heading to Canberra.

That's the best part of 2000 kilometres - and both Adam and father share Tolo's towering frame.

"It means the world. They could just take the easy route and had Christmas by themselves," Tolo said.

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"It just means the world to me that they have made this extra effort and come all this way just to have the family together.

"That's special, we don't get to have that too often. The last time we had that was maybe three years ago up in Mackay.

"Even [partner Dan Jackson], for him to stay here because his parents are near Port Macquarie. To have everyone here means the world.

"For them to make the effort to drive here, 26 hours worth of driving, it's pretty special. I'm lucky to have my family here to support me.

"It's not often I get to play in front of them too, so it was really good last week.

"We don't often get to spend time together because Kate lives overseas, my brother is in Brisbane, and my parents are in Mackay.

"It's pretty special, I love having them here."

But Tolo laughs if her family thought being stuck in a car for so long was bad, they had another thing coming on Christmas day.

Sure, the family breakfast wasn't too bad. But then lunch rolled around and the crowd grew much bigger.

Because Tolo threw the doors open to the Capitals family with Mikaela Ruef, Abby Cubillo and her partner Zac, and Kia Nurse and her partner John.

"It's a small place so it's a full house for sure," Tolo laughed.

The Capitals will train on Boxing Day morning before flying to Adelaide for a clash with the Lightning at the Adelaide Arena on Friday.

Then they will be forced to back up in Perth against the Lynx at the Bendat Basketball Centre on Sunday.

"It's huge. Adelaide have been struggling a bit and they've got to fight to get to the finals," Tolo said.

"They won't take us easy, this will probably be one of their bigger games so we've got to be ready for that.

"I know Perth have dropped quite a few games as well so they're fighting and have been upset in a few games. They definitely have the capabilities with their players.

"It will be really important for us to come into the games with the mindset that we're going after both wins.

"It's really important for us to get better as a team and that means playing the right way on the court, hopefully we can do that and come away with the win."