Christmas Eve Excitement

Everyone has arrived safe & sound for Christmas before the weather set in. We have Nana and Gramma & Grampa P here with us. I'm off work for four days and I received a good grade in my class @ UNL. I am ready to relax.

The boys made a Bethlehem diorama, but it quickly took on their sense of realism with tanks & infantry.

We loaded up our old swingset into a u-haul trailer hitched to G&G P's Buick. It's ready for the trip to Mississippi to be planted in cousin MB's yard. It was 20 with no wind when we got the trailer this morning. In the hour it took us to load it, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. We are now at 16 °F with blowing snow and 28 mph sustained winds with gusts expected up to 50 mph. I'm glad we are all here and have nowhere to go today or tomorrow.

Snow Days

The urban legend at school is that if you wear your pajamas inside out and put a spoon under your pillow, we will have a snow day the next day. The boys must have some powerful mojo, as their trick worked before they even went to bed. They were off Tuesday when it started snowing and also today as the city dug out from all the drifts.

When I left for work yesterday, I told CP that there would be some money for him if he were to shovel the driveway. He did it twice during the day, and I did it again when I got home. The boys spent the day sledding and snowboarding on the little hill at the bottom of our street.

We even had to shovel a path for the dog so she would go out.

Be Careful What You Wish For

All we need is a little snow, and it will start to feel like the holidays... We went from 60° last weekend to single digits, 8" of snow, and 40 mph winds. At least it's pretty, and now it really feels like the holidays.

We got 8" of snow yesterday during the day, and then just like the weather guy said, the wind kicked in at 9 pm. It blew and blew and blew all night. The snow we got during the storm is now down in Missouri, and the stuff we have now came from Wyoming. We had some blinding sundogs all morning as a result of all the snow in the air.

CP looked out the window when he came downstairs this morning and was disappointed to see bare grass in the front yard. "Aww, all the snow melted!" It took a while to explain that the bare grass was due to the wind. It took the 5-foot drifts in our neighbors' back yard and a reading of 12° to convince him that the snow did not melt overnight.

Thanksgiving

We had not only Nana here, but also our neighbors from a tropical island. As usual, we ate too much and pledged to eat better the day after.

The weather was spectacular (60° and NO WIND), so we hung the lights and put up the outdoor decorations. We spent a couple hours debugging the lights on our tree and ended up replacing about 50 bulbs that had burned out over the last few years. All we need now is some snow and it will feel like the holidays.