Dec. Unwrapped - Part 4 - "Christmas Eve"

 

 

 

Christmas Eve arrived at last. "Accompanied by a deep sigh of relief from the boys. They are still under the belief that December is the longest month of the year and that Christmas will never, ever, arrive. But at long last it did. We celebrate by our now annual Christmas Eve drive to see some of the holiday lights around our town. Then we have a meal of chicken nuggets and fries (this year they were homemade potato wedges - yum). After which the boys could finally open presents - OH Joy of Joys. On Christmas Eve my boys are allowed to open two gifts. One always contains a pair of PJ's and the other is a gift from dad. They had a great time. Now if only Christmas morning wasn't so darn far away!!!!:)

AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Is this seen getting old to You?!?? It is to me - and I usually like winter. Another day, more snow, more Wind and another BLIZZARD warning. And once again no school - AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! The official ending date was once May 27, then it was June 1st, then June 3rd, and now we are looking at June 8th. At this rate the kids might get a summer break????
This weather is enough to make even me - a confirmed snow lover want to scream, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! And we still have one week of January, all of February and who knows how much of March before the possibilty of Spring. Maybe I'll hibernate!?! At least the windchill is only 6 degrees instead of -25. "Oh!, We're having a heat wave. A tropical heat wave!"

December Unwrapped - part 3 - "Why I Love our Neighbors?!

 

At the rate I'm going I might get all of Dec 2009 posted by the time we hit Dec. 2010. On Dec. 24th we were on our third day of nasty weather ,in a row. We had had a mix of snow, rain, sleet, freezing drizzle, and ice rain. In no particular order. Just changing from one to another as the temperatures fluctuated between about 28 degrees and 34 degrees. The neighbors just across the street from us are older and have a difficult time shoveling. They have some one they pay who had come by earlier and cleared the slush. But as Christmas eve set in the temperatures began to drop and rain transitioned into ice. Several neighbors rallied to help scrape the ice off their driveway. My husband and two boys are there, another neighbor and her daughter are there and just before I found the camera still another neighbor and her granddaughter left after helping. This was a scene that played out over and over as we went through four days (all together) of really nasty weather (that included that seven inches of wet snow). We have been so fortunate to be blessed with great neighbors - ones who look after each other. Can I just say we love our neighbors! :)

Dec. Unwrapped - Part 2 - A Visit from St. Nick

 

 

 

That Friday evening after the boys' school program we had our church Christmas get together. We had a nice meal, carols, stories, crafts for the kids and a visit with Santa - who made a special trip to our neck of the woods. The boys had a fun time sitting on his lap and sharing Christmas wishes. But I felt a little sad too. I think it might be one of the last pictures of J.D. participating in this activity - one day soon he will figure it out and some of that magic for this part of Christmas will be lost. But if he holds onto the true meaning of Christmas then I think I can handle him growing up a bit more. But I'm not going to rush it - I'll let him keep the magic as long as I can. Despite my Mommy moment, we had a great time!!

"The Artic" or "A Little Blustery" !?!?!!!

 

 

 

 

Not sure what to call this post. Since titles like "The weather outside is frightful" are already taken - and recently too. Now, I love snow and have always liked it. But 'Old Man Winter' has not been kind to us the last few weeks. Today marks the third blizzard in four weeks. (Thus the change to spring like colors on the blog) Once again we are snow bound. The weather truly is frightning - we are in our first week after Christmas break and it has shaped up like this: Monday: two hour late start, Tuesday normal (all though a little suprising since temps were only three degrees warmer than Monday and still well below zero), Wednesday: two hour early dismissal as snow begins to fall on already icy roads, today: no school at all. Most of the roads are closed in the state or if they are open travel is not advised; if you are stupid enough to travel if it isn't an emergency then no tow truck will come to get you if you slide off. Wednesday was the warmest of the last nine - we were a balmy 9 degrees above zero with a windchill of 2 degrees above zero. Today's temperature is falling and we are once again heading toward temperatures that are well below zero and windchills somewhere in the range of -30 to -40. Our HIGH for tomorrow is predicted to be a nice warm -7 (yes that's negative) without the windchill (sounds fun - doesn't it). I'm beginning to wonder if a move to Siberia might not be warranted - I'm thinking that it might be warmer there. (no offense to any of you who may have lived in Siberia) Not sure what kind of school schedule tomorrow will bring; but since we (as I said) are expecting another super chilled blast of artic air; I'm guessing that it will be at least a two hour delayed start. And on a final note in case you are wondering the pictures are not out of focus - that is what 40 to 50 mile and hour wind gusts will do to 6 or 7 inches of very dry powdery snow!!!! Notice the two shots that are the same, one when the wind is calmer and one with the wind doing its thing. The drift Del is shoveling is a small one only about 18 to 24 inches deep - notice the one of the house across the street - I don't know how well it shows in the picture but it is somewhere around four feet deep. Just taking pictures was an Artic experience. BRRRRRRRR!!!!!

December Unwrapped!! - Part 1 - "School Program"

 

 

Our Christmas season began early - on the first Friday of the month. J.D. and K.J. had their Holiday Program at school. Dad took the day off. He and I did some shopping in the morning and then went to see the boys perform in the afternoon. We really enjoyed this - it is the only time our two boys will perform in the same school program - because of their age difference. So we loved being able to watch both of them. Their classes both did a nice job and we had an enjoyable time. It was a nice start to our Christmas season.