December 2009 Archives

Yes, we did wind up with a White Christmas. OK, technically it’s not snowing now, and the snow on the ground is almost a week old. But there is snow still there, so I think it counts.

The kids were wild this morning, tearing into their presents. They were really happy to see what Santa and family gave them. But things have now settled down a bit, though you certainly wouldn’t know it by looking at the floor.

But let’s also remember what this season is all about. And Linus and Charlie Brown really seem to have it down. (Yes, this is a repeat from last year. It’s still as relevant.)

Yup, the kids are really feeling it, too. Even Sean and Daniel are antsy about when Santa is going to get here. They really are itching to know that Santa will be here, even if they really don’t know what to expect. All three of them cannot wait for Christmas to be here.

That’s not to say that they don’t get the religious significance of tomorrow, either. We’ve been reading lots of Christmas story related books, and they know that we are celebrating Jesus’s birthday. (Will’s understanding is a bit deeper, as it should be with an older kid.)

But in honor of their antsyness, I give you this little Sesame Street ditty. Kinda cute, if you can stand Elmo and Cheryl Crow. (And yes, Sesame Street has lots of official short videos on YouTube now. Plenty to distract kids with, if they want to sit in your lap and share some computer time with you.)

I finally got the video and pictures straight from last weekend. After a heavy snowfall on Friday night, we awoke to more snow throughout the morning. But it stopped right before lunchtime, with only scattered snow that afternoon. Sunday morning was brisk, but clear in the sky. And by the afternoon, we started to get some melt on the parts of the road/driveway/sidewalk that had been cleared off.

The pictures cover the full range of the snow. All 3 kids got out on Saturday before lunchtime, but Sean and Daniel napped later in the afternoon when Will and Kellie went out to finish the snowman. Will spent Sunday with Gwama, so our time outside later that afternoon was spent with Sean and Daniel.

As you can see from the pictures above and video below, Sean and Daniel largely confined themselves to the sidewalk. They just didn’t like walking in the deep and uneven snow underfoot. But this afternoon, we got them home before sunset and spent some time outside, and they finally started wandering around in the snow on their own. Sean, in particular, was making fresh snow tracks. And we finally got a toboggan track going that all 3 kids went down a few times. We’ll see if the snow can last until Friday, for a white Christmas.

Yes, it’s a bit odd to think that the winter solstice isn’t here yet, but we already had a significant snow. (Okay, not really, but it’s interesting to think that we still have 2 or 3 more months of cold weather to come, where we might get yet another snowstorm.)

The snow essentially ended around lunchtime, though there was a brief dusting around sundown. I measured around 11 inches at lunchtime, so figure it was a bit more than that. I couldn’t get a good reading this morning, as the top layer had largely frozen over and been compacted a bit.

The kids had a blast, though Sean and Daniel were too spooked to actually walk very far in the snow. The footing was just too unstable for their preferences, and they just wanted to be carried in it. That make it tough for actually doing anything with them, like building a snowman or riding on the sled. But they made the most of grabbing chunks of snow and throwing snowballs while walking along the cleared sidewalk.

The snowman was eventually finished by Kellie and Will late Saturday afternoon (I had rolled the base earlier). He did survive the sun on Sunday, though it’s clear the headshrinkers were at work on him today. That is a photo of him this morning, before the sun got to work on him.

The snowplow (or farm tractor with a snowplow blade, as is done in our neighborhood) came by around lunchtime today. And with the temps slightly above freezing and a bright sun, the roads in the neighborhood are already starting to melt away. The main roads just outside our neighborhood were already well-plowed this morning. I went to church this morning for lectoring duty, and Mass was done in double-time — about 50 in attendance, and we were done in 35 minutes (whereas our priest normally has Mass last about 70 minutes).

Time permitting, I will post a bunch more pictures and video of the kids (and adults) playing and having fun. This was definitely the most snow we’ve had since I moved down here almost 10 years ago, but actually not much more than what we got last spring.

Just a quick update on the storm. As of 8:30am Saturday, we were at almost 9.5 inches of snow on the front stoop. And that could be a bit compacted, as it’s been more ice crystals than snow for the last hour or so.

As I write this entry an hour later, the ice has now changed over to major snowfall again. So it looks like will be adding to the base we have so far.

Needless to say, the kids are itching to go out in the snow. But it’s probably a bit too stormy to go yet. Hopefully, our sanity holds on until they can go out.

We shall see how significant this winds up. I have lived in Richmond for 10 years, and this is being predicted as possibly the most snow that I will have seen in my time here — 8 to 12 inches. However, I just found this winter storm warning bulletin, as I was writing this entry, and it looks like they’re predicting at least 12 inches.

Should be an interesting time. In the meantime, just to give you a sense of how fast it is falling, here’s some video shot an hour after the snow started, and then three hours after it started. The snow was already as thick as it typically gets after just 3 hours. (When it snows here, we usually don’t get much to allow sledding or building snowmen, though we did back in March.) And we’ve probably got another 24+ hours of snowfall ahead of us.

11:45pm update: Heading to bed now. The winter weather advisory now reads 16 to 22 inches for the region. And I only checked 90 minutes ago for the image above. I currently have 7 inches of snow on the front stoop, and it’s been snowing slightly less than 7 hours so far. Yes, this one will be a doozy.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. I hope she had a good birthday, although probably not as relaxing as she would have liked. Daniel had to see the doctor this morning about a cough. We seem to have caught it in time. There went much of her free time she had planned on today.

(The photo is one from October, when we visited Aunt Iris and Debbie at their farm. Yes, from an event I haven’t written about.)

Then, it was off to see Legendary Santa. All 3 boys actually sat still (no crying or shyness) for Santa — a first as a group. (There has always been at least one before this time.) More on that later. After all, this is about Kellie’s birthday.

Which meant a birthday dinner out — at O’Toole’s. This one was kind of cool, in that her brother Tim was also in town, so they got to celebrate their birthday together for once. (I guess I should wish him a happy birthday, too.) Of course, 3 kids don’t last forever in a restaurant, so we were the first to leave, while the rest of the Padgett clan stayed behind.

I know she’s tired, but I hope she still enjoyed her birthday. Now, for that backrub she was asking for…