Our Christmas adventure of 2009

This Christmas started out looking pretty dismal when, on Christmas Eve, we realized that the snow outside was coming down a little too hard to make it to Norman. We had been in our own cozy world that morning, getting ready to leave, and it never occurred to me that we wouldn't be able to get there. Then Sean's dad called and told me that it was a real BLIZZARD and it wasn't safe to get out. He was right of course; by that time the snow was about five inches deep in our yard and the snow was whipping around like a frenzy. I was very upset because this was going to be my first Christmas Eve with the Sanders family and I was looking forward to sharing some of their traditions with them. And we had no idea if the snow was going to be clear enough to go up to Norman by Christmas morning or even that weekend at all. I thought it was destined to be the worst Christmas ever.
But then!
Sean and I braved the snow for a mile and made it to Ellen Sue and Kelsey's house. THey had nothing planned, because they were waiting to do Christmas next weekend with our family. And there was soup, and card games, and movies and a fireplace waiting for us. Kelsey and I even went out and played in the snow. We spent the night there, and by the next morning, the sun was shining and the snowplows had spent many hours hard at work. THe roads were clear! We drove to Norman slowly, just to make sure. We made it to Sean's sister's house, where most of the presents were waiting, because we had planned to meet here this morning anyway.
Sean's parents live four more miles east of town then Sean's sister. Their road was still closed becuase the bulldozers hadn't made it that far. To compound the problem, their gate was frozen shut and their neighbor had gotten her truck stuck in the snow right in front of their swing gate so they couldn't even get the tractor out to clear the snow.
Sean's dad spent hours that morning shoveling snow out from around the gate while Sean and James slowly tried to find another way to drive to their house. It seemed almost impossible that we would be able to spend Christmas together.
But three pairs of coveralls, two shovels, and about ten plastic trash bags later, Sean and James made it close enough to the house that the Sanderses could drag their presents and food in trash bags to the car and drive safely to Krysten and James' house. By noon, we were starting to make breakfast. By two, we started to open presents. By six, we had almost finished cleaning up the living room and were ready for supper. And by seven, I had concluded that this was an excellent Christmas.

Thought of the day:
and I still have another Christmas to go!