Wowsers what a day!

Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wow, what a day!....
Today was probably one of the most eventful christmas experiences of my life. Absolutely no warning this morning that things were going to be soooo ..."interesting". Wouldn't it be nice if God could at least give us a forecast or something so I'll KNOW when to wear more layers???? *laughing at the thought* Of course now I'm sitting here on the couch at nearly five in the morning because all my layers I was too exhausted to take off were strangling me. I really didn't do much of anything once I finally got up to my room... just PLOP! snore. We all have days like that, don't lie to yourself. *wink*

Okie-dokie, now that I am in proper frame of mind for the retelling of such an eventful uneventful afternoon, I will commence my story.

Christmas shopping day. The day when Dad hands out money to everyone and we go get lost in malls that don't have what we want, right? Yeah, you know the drill. only this time, its going to snow while we're out! Woohoo! That's festive, right? So we all load the car (with the exception of Mom, who has a broken ankle and decided to stay home) and headed to the biggest shopping center in old vill, an hour away.

Driving...Driving... happy people driving... I'm sitting in the passenger seat next to dad, and my husband and his two brothers are in the back totally goofing off and taking advantage of allll the leg space they can find.

So they're back there talking about stuff, and dad and I are in the front talking about stuff. (actually I was getting a very interesting lesson in the making of soap) When I spotted the first few snow flakes.

I said, "guys! it's snowing!" I hear a faint "woopy" in the back seat and more indistinct talking. Then my brother in law, Joel sits up and says, "guys! it's snowing!" I laughed because I just said that and we have fun teasing Joel for not echoing me.

More driving... The snow starts to stick to the branches of the trees we pass. Drive... Drive... The window starts to get foggy. Dad hands me a squeagy thingy and asks me to man the vision protection patrol. So I start my new job as the indoor windshield wiper. I have to unbuckle my seat belt ever now and then to reach all the way over to dad's side of the car, but that's fine with me.

It wasn't fine with Johnathan, though. So he told me to swap seats with my other tall brother in law, Jordan. Jordan took his place in the passenger seat, and I got buckled into the back seat. But I was next to my most favorite person in the world, so I rather enjoyed myself.

The further we got on that road, the harder it snowed. By the time we got to the mall it looked like a snow straight out of a movie. It was beautiful! I loved it! Dad dropped us off at the door, and we did out best to stay dry as we waved through the side walk.

Once inside the store, Johnathan revealed that he hadn't eaten anything all day, and he was hungry. but the other guys didn't want to stop for food just yet, so when we split up to do our shopping, The first place WE stopped was chinese. *happy grin* We only ate a little to stay our hunger, and then we looked around and tried to find a good store.

Somehow we all ended up at barns and noble. *giggles* There really wasn't much at that mall. So we decided to buy one last thing in the book store and then go look someplace else.

But our plans were thwarted when a sales associate told us that the whole mall would be closing early today... in twenty minutes, to be exact. and another one waved at Jordan and said, "Man, what are you doing here?? It's snowing! go home!"

Dad called and said he was at the door ready to pick us up again, so we after virtually NO shopping, we left. Everything was closing. Every single store, restaurant and school. The roads we clogged with people trying to get home without spinning off the road. It was bad.

Dad apologized and told us that we wouldn't be able to get anything to eat unless we could find a drive through that was still open. I looked back and Johnathan and grinned. He winked at me. We were both so glad that we stopped into that chinese joint! They were able to stop by McDonalds, though, so they didn't starve.

Getting to the interstate was a slow process. A couple times we hit ice and swerved, even though we were only going 15 to 20 mph. We thought that once we got to the interstate things we get better. It was a main road, and so of course they would have salt out there, and all the cars driving on it would help keep the road clear.... Not on your life.

Traffic didn't speed up one notch. Even though there were salt trucks and snow plows everywhere, we were still slipping on ice. The roads were so covered in snow, nobody knew what lane they were in, or even where the road ended. Once, Jordan looked out the window and said, "Uh, I think theres a whole nother lane next to us... because the road markers are waaay over there." We looked out the window and saw that this other lane was completely unmarked. Nobody knew it existed.

Traffic became more and more sparse. Nobody wanted to be out in that weather, and we had to drive an hour in it to get home. ...At least, it was an hour going the speed limit.

The snow fell harder and faster, till we could barely see 20 feet in front of our van. Hills were interesting. Going down it was hard to stop, going up,.. Well, we passed seven cars who couldn't make it.

In the course of thirty minutes, there were 160 reported accedents on the road. Johnathan unbuckled his seat belt to buckle it around me. I wasn't going ANYWERE. *smiles*

We had to stop by walmart to stock up on groceries, since it was obvious it would be our last chance to do so. The boys ran in with the list, while Dad and I waited in the car. I watched the snow pile up faster than I've ever seen, and I was just about to get out and make a snowman on top of those red poles outside the walmart doors when the boys came out with the food.

The drive back home from that walmart usually takes thirty minutes... This time it took an hour and thirty minutes.

But we finally made it home in one piece, and we all applauded dad for his excellent driving skills.

Once we got all the groceries inside and put away, Jordan shoveled the porch and the side walk. He decide not to put salt down, since it was still snowing as hard as ever. And it was a good thing he didn't; because this morning, as I look out my window, I can see that the snow has easily risen two feet, and completely erased everything he did out there.

We're snowed in! What do think of that? I'm glad I washed all the laundry yesterday, because it's obvious we can use all the clothes we can find!!

Merry Christmas!!

PS. Quick update: Now, at 2:14 pm, it's up to my waist and still snowing!!!!! Poor Grandma's been out of electricity since last night.

Another update at 9:10 pm: Johnathan had high hopes for playing in the snow, and we got bundled up in everything we could find.... literally... everything. From plastic bags, to trash bags, to mom's hoody thrown over my heavy coat and everything under it. When we were done, Johnathan looked like a sailor and I looked like the blueberry girl from the chocolate factory. (Johnathan sang the oompa loompa song in my honor). We got outside, and discovered that snow up to Johnathan's waist is pretty deep, and hard for a short girl to walk through. We had great adventures braving it down the driveway to check the mail. When we got back, I was totally wet, and Johnathan was totally dry. And what better thing to do when you find yourself in such a situation, than to point and laugh? So that's exactly what he did. :)

Merry Christmas to all. (I think we might have to postpone it if we can't get out to go christmas shopping.)