Sigh….and its over.

Man oh man, it was an exciting adventurous holiday here in The Plains. The Great Blizzard of 09 hit Thursday morning…I woke up at 8:15 to the sounds of horrible winds, pelting sleet, and panic filled me. I called Mom, we agreed that I needed to get my arse on the road twenty minutes ago so I threw (literally) a handfull of clothes and shoes and things I’d been saving for my sister, and rushed around the house getting the cats set up for a long time away from Mama, checked the litter boxes…and VAMOOSE. Was out the door and into the elements. It was horrible. I didn’t get above 45 miles an hour for about an hour and a half to two hours into the trip. What usually takes three an a half hours took well over four. I did get ahead of the storm and was thankful, but was just tweaked out for the night. I watched online as the weather trapped people on the road, 20 and 50 car pile ups on the interstates. It seemed, as we watched the interstates close down and the toll roads closed down, that I got out just in time.

Christmas eve was spent opening presents, which if you have children in your family, you know how awesome that is. Wonderbaby got a Bert doll, and the minute he pulled it out of the sack, stuck his head back into the sack and started saying, “Earnie? Earnie?” hysterial. Wonderboy got lots of Trio things, which are sturdier building leggo kind of things. I got some beautiful GEORGEOUS clothes and a new robe (mom saw the condition mine was in last visit!) Mom made THE BEST turkey, her first brining and roasting experience and it was amazing. It was a good night. She then proceeded to give me what could only have been horse tranqualizers and I dont remember much till 4pm the next day! Ok, not that drastic but we were all zombies the next morning for Santa…en route I almost slid off the side of the mountain as the weather had come our way overnight…GAH. Scared. Wonderboy cried, “Aunt Zelda is SAFE!” when I got to their house. (still cracks me up about every five minutes)

So, we watched the boys play with their Santa stuff, Wonderbaby is the most vocal thing ever and let out some random vocalizations before pulling the door off of his Elmo Kitchen set. I swear, the child is like that kid on the Incredibles that can buildings and stuff. We all just crack up and shake our heads. He does this noise which sounds like he’s crying or mad or hurt or something and it always winds up into this maniacle laughing that just cracks me up. Funny funny child.

Christmas afternoon was spent napping, reading, playing Bejeweled, sipping tea by the fireplace. Sigh. I miss that this morning.

Mom, sis and I hit the post Christmas Walmark sales where I got a pre-lit tree for next year, we got some discounted decorations, lights, wrapping paper etc. I got a little space heater and had the foresight to pick up some ice melt. It was just some nice quality time…packed with a billion things! We all had a meal at Dad’s new home on Sunday and it was awkward for I think almost everyone involved but relatively painless. The food was delicious, the conversation was…stilted but for the first “hey lets all pretend like we’re a family” event, it was fine. Dad and his wife were very gracious and hosting but you could tell they were on edge a little too.

I drove home and the roads were all clear and fine until I got into my neighborhood and it’s still, a war zone. gah. I had to shovel the driveway in order to get the car in the garage. A trip to the grocery for toilet paper, cat food and litter. There were tufts of cat hair all over the house…I can only imagine what the three of them did to survive the snow…

One tragedy of the storm? My Gazebo. It is no more. I can’t even get outside to start picking up the pieces, but surveying the damage this morning in the daylight…it’s sad. But the pipes seem to be holding up, the house is warm and fine…I think I survived just fine.

It was a good time with family, and this morning a little lonely but for the company of Chrome who spent the night last night. She and Gert came over and we chatted the night away till the wee morning hours. Good stuff. Good stuff indeed…

I hope yours was just as fabulous. Today I must unpack the car and get the house in some order for the working tomorrow. Happy Monday ya’ll!