Christmas Story

We made it home for Christmas! We made merry with my mommy darling, brother, family and family friends for three days. Highlights included: watching David interact with my extended family. He is charming and delightful, they are charming and delightful, and fun was had by all. I also loved watching my 2 year old cousin play. He is full of joy and giggles. It was fun. We also hung out with David's sister and her family.

Travel back included a 10-hour late train, 8 hours being stuck in a mountain pass waiting for a broken freight train to be hauled out of a tunnel (no cell service), and some crabbiness on the down side. Silver linings included: wintry mountain scenes without worrying about driving, plenty of time to read a new book, and arriving home on time for David to play a gig with his band.

Merry Christmas, everyone. I was struck many times this year with minor bursts of understanding our celebration - our King chose our weak flesh, chose humble beginnings and a painful end to bring us salvation, peace, joy.


It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel-sounds
The blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the heavenly strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
O rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Maybe.

We have Amtrak tickets that say we are going home (to my mom's house) tomorrow. Although getting over that dang mountain range and into the snow flurries and wind storms of the West has caused no end of problems for stranded travelers here, I am hopeful. Mostly hopeful, anyway.

Poor Christina is (still) stuck here. At least I got to hang out with her yesterday, which would never have been possible otherwise (she was on a DC to Seattle flight that landed here).

Today we finished the snow castle. It's amazing. Maybe even newsworthy. It's taller than David's head and decorated with icicles. I helped until my fingers hurt through 2 pairs of gloves today. Awesome.

Superfun snow!

Well, 30" later, our first Snowstorm left everyone shoveling furiosly and acting neighborly. David very kindly rescued my car with his dad, and snowplowed the entire block. And built more snow castle. I've been somewhat left out of the activities due to a raging sinus infection. This morning I woke up to a tinkling sound and thought, "hmmm. Either a robber broke in to pee on our floor or something is leaking. David and I leapt out of bed to a burst pipe and three new inches of snow! Hurray! Happy winter, everyone.


P.s. My computer broke so pictures will only follow if David grants his lowly servant permission to put them on his computer first. In awesome news, I'm blogging from my new iPod! Thanks, husband!

Snow Day!

It was snowing when I left for work yesterday morning at 7:10. It is still snowing today at 10 a.m. It has not stopped - apparently we have a new record! 17" in 24 hours! We even beat last January's dumpdown.

I left work at 3:00 sharp. I walked in the doors of my house at 6:27. Traffic was the worst mess I have ever seen. When I heard on the radio that my hill was closed I almost cried. It had taken me an hour (maybe more) to go west of the only open street to the south hill. I would have to backtrack to the street so I could have a chance at driving up a steep, snowy street. It wasn't worth it (and I was running out of gas). I parked my car on the side of the road and walked home. It took me 20 minutes. I was zooming past the cars waiting through 4 light changes to make it through the intersections. Suckers.

Pictures to follow.

Tree Trimming!

Babies, babies everywhere

If you are currently participating in dangerous kissing behavior, or you want to, ye be warned.

Speaking of smooches, there are a lot of pregnant people around. It makes me nervous. Like it's catching. Come to think of it, I frequently worry about pregnancy around this time of year. Any ideas why?

Sheesh.

We had a little excitement today at school. Ten minutes into 5th period, the principal announced that we were in lockdown.

Awesome.

When it's a drill, they tell the teachers ahead of time. They hadn't said a word.

We sat on the floor in the back of the room with all the lights out and the blinds shut for about 20 minutes.

We found out later that a student had a severe case of the idiots and didn't think before he packed his backpack. He brought a practice grenade to school. Oops. Turns out that practice grenades look a lot like real grenades, and if you have one, you should never bring it to school.

All is fine, but it was moderately concerning. 20 minutes is a long time to wonder what's going on.