Home: 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.)

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.