White Christmas

Well, Christmas certainly proved to be an adventure this year! Dinner was a total bust. We had heated up the ham, and my mother-in-law had cooked stuffing (dressing? is there a difference? I don't eat the stuff), and some yams (sweet potatoes? again, something I don't eat) but my poor mashed potatoes were on the stove when the electricity went out...and never got mashed. Josh was supposed to be roasting a pork shoulder on the grill but ran out of charcoal (we didn't take into account the effect the below-freezing temperature would have on the grill, since it's not something we usually have to deal with.)

After that failed attempt we came inside, ate semi-cold ham, and played a card game by candlelight, then went back out and my brother-in-law built a fire out of one of my pallets (freezing rain all day had left us with no dry wood) and we heated up some water for coffee and hot chocolate. Not too much after that it started snowing and we all ran outside to play in it. It was cold, and wet, and absolutely, hands down, the Best Christmas Ever. (And my first white Christmas!)

It snowed hard for a good long while, and once it finally slowed down we walked around the block (so pretty!) and then brought Orion outside and let him play. He loved the snow. He was a little freaked out, though, because it messed with his sense of smell and he kept forgetting who Aaron (Joshs brother) was unless he talked to him.

After we came in, changed, and were trying to get warm two huge branches fell off the tree right next to our house...luckily they fell straight down and went in between our house and our neighbors fence, and didn't land on anything!

Our power didn't come back until last night, and we're under another winter weather advisory for tonight (snow and sleet that will turn to freezing rain when the sun comes up tomorrow) so I hope that the power stays on...but if it doesn't, at least we're prepared this time! Batteries charged, everything is washed, and we have plenty of non-perishables, paper plates, and candles.

I really didn't mind any of it, it's all one big adventure to me. The only thing that made me mad was that I hadn't thought to charge my camera battery before Tuesday so all the pictures I have of snow falling are on my phone. We went driving around town today, though, and I got some nice shots, but still...I should know better! Anyway, here's a few bunch of pictures of the snow, and a video of Orion trying to get into a snowball, because for some reason he kept thinking there was treasure inside of them or something.

Sorry if I bombarded you with pictures, but I can still count the number of times I've seen snow falling on one hand, and this was by far the most snow I've ever seen at once! It was just so exciting to me! I still love it, even the sloshy, dirty snow that's left out there. :)