Christmas week
The weather has been crazy here in Vancouver, WA in the last few weeks. So much so that we actually had a White Christmas (yes, I watched part of the movie during the week too).
Like I said in one of my last posts, we went to see Scrooge on the 14th and had snow and blew away. By the next weekend, it was Eric’s birthday party (the 20th) and it started snowing again. Luckily for us, the party was at our house, because if we had needed to drive home afterwards, we might not have made it – so much piled up while we were together! From that point on, it just kept snowing and ice-ing for the next week. We had gone shopping on the afternoon of the 19th (E got off early), and it was a good thing we had lots of leftovers from the party to eat on!
E tried to go into work mid-day on Monday and found his chains from the old car didn’t fit the new car as we had hoped. So his boss came and got him and they went chain shopping but of course everywhere was sold out by then.
Tuesday the 23rd, we had been looking forward to going to church with the family for the Christmas Eve Eve candlelight service. It was too treacherous to drive, and the church cancelled, too. That was probably the scariest day for me, I was so worried we were going to have to cancel or postpone Christmas Eve because it was so awful out. I was calling my siblings all freaked out, but they calmed me down and said it wasn’t as bad as it seemed and all that.
Christmas Eve, Megan and Andrew were nice enough to drive us with their Yukon with 4-wheel drive. So everybody made it to spend the whole evening together, despite the snow in my parents apartment complex. We had fabulous prime rib, mashed potatoes, ceaser salad that wasn’t *tooooo* garlicy this time, and of course, the usually Christmas treats that Sarah and Megan and I made to share. I did a healthier version of a Christmas biscotti, and some linzer tarts that E put together. I was actually finishing Sarah’s present as we were on our way, and it’s as usual: I get too many extra ideas I want to put into a project and try to put them in motion at the last minute and then get rushed at the end. I need to steal her present back and do a better job of attaching the handles! We exchanged gifts between siblings AND the parents this time instead of saving some for Christmas.
Christmas day, our plan had been to spend the day with my parents. All the other siblings have other sides of family to visit, but ours are down in CA, so we didn’t have that option. Without being able to drive in the snow, my parents came and picked us up, and we spent the day together. We watched The Rock, one of my presents from the night before, and I knitted some and finished weaving in ends of the placemats for my mom (she got 8 on Christmas Eve, and I had 3 more just needing weaving – I need to make at least 2 or 3 more). E played a game, and I watched some of the House marathon, which was a new show for me because it’s always been on up against something else. Dad made us a delicious breakfast, and we had some good leftovers for dinner.
Finally on the 26th, the snow started to melt. It still was icey and E got his boss to get him again. He worked part of the day and then came home and we played games and watched stuff.
Today, I was anxious to get out of the house for the first time on our own in a while. We had Olive Garden and browsed the mall. I found the daily calendar I’d been wanting on 50% off. We walked and visited the library to bring back books and get a few more. And then I came home and rested more. I’m getting a cold, and have a sore throat and stuffy nose to go along with it. So the extra rest was helpful. We played more games and watched more Buffy commentaries on the 5th season, where we are right now.
I don’t have plans for tomorrow, but it seems to keep warming up, so I could leave the house if I wanted to! That’s a blessing 🙂
