Christmas in review...

To say the least, our Christmas was magical.  I don't think I've ever loved a Christmas as much as I did this one since I was a little girl.

On Christmas Eve, I kept my niece & nephew while my sister worked and my BIL slept (after his nightshift).  They wore me out...between chasing around a one year old who never.ever.stops. to trying to explain to his older sister that she's NOT in control...I was ready for a nap by the time they left.  But there was no time for napping because there were cookies to be made and peanut butter balls to be rolled in chocolate. 

For the past few years my BIL's schedule had him working on Christmas Eve...and sometimes Christmas Day too.  So, we started a little tradition of going to my sister's house Christmas Eve, eating snacks, visiting and beginning our 24-hour marathon of watching A Christmas Story before heading home to wait for Santa.  This year, however, Zach was off on Christmas Eve...so he was able to become part of this tradition! 

On Christmas morning, Dylan patiently waited for me to drag myself out of bed...he didn't come in my room to "check to see if I was awake yet".  Thankfully for him, I woke up kind of early...and then he bugged me to let him open presents.  I was able to put him off until I had our Christmas cinnamon buns in the oven and then I gave in.  I think he was a little disappointed - he had really wanted a PS3...I really didn't want to make that kind of investment for Christmas...and the Carhartt coat that I got him wasn't exactly what he wanted.  I told him I knew it wasn't the color that he'd asked for, but I liked it.  He tried all weekend to see if it would grow on him, but I'm pretty sure we will be returning it.  And that's OK by me...I knew it wasn't the color, but I was hoping he'd like it anyway.

The real fun began around 11am when we looked out and noticed it was snowing.  I'd checked the forecast earlier that day and we were forecasted for less than 2" of snow.  Snow in our part of NC is kind of a rare thing.  Snow in December is even more amazing.  Snow on Christmas hasn't happened since 1998...and that was just a "trace".  The last measurable snow fall, which was less than 2", was in 1969.  Forty-one years ago.  To see any snow on Christmas is such a rare occurrence that we North Carolinians will take whatever we get!

We headed to my mom & dad's house soon after the snow began and just spent the afternoon with them.  I took a nap...Dylan played video games...we just all kind of relaxed the afternoon away.  When I got up from my nap around 3:30ish, the ground was just covered...and the snow was still coming. 

My sister & her family arrived around 4:45...we ate dinner and then the next fun part began - PRESENTS! :)  My nephew (who is 1yr BTW) was completely unaware and uncaring that he wasn't opening gifts.  He had gifts - plenty of them, but he was more excited about the big boxes that he could climb up on!  I was totally blessed by my family - not only did I get the Ugg knock offs that I wanted from Target (thanks to my son!), I also got the polka dot rainboots that I fell in love with a few weeks ago and...A KITCHEN AID MIXER!!!!  I'm so excited about this...especially after I lugged my mom's back & forth all December! :)  I think we were all very happy & excited about all of the blessings...and the snow was falling the entire evening!

Finally, when I left to go home around 8:45ish, we had about 3 inches on the ground.  And when I woke up the next morning, I believe our final measurement was around 6 inches.  Hmmm...weather forecasters a little off????  The snow finally stopped around 11am...which means that it snowed for right at 24 hours!!!

When we do get snow in NC, things kind of shut down...for various reasons.  Often our snow is accompanied by ice.  Driving in snow is one thing...driving on ice for even the most seasoned driver is just plain dangerous.  This snow was perfect though - it was just snow...nice, powdery snow!  We also tend to shut down because we generally have several power outages.  I had one for a whole 20 minutes yesterday.  However, I have lived through ice/snow storms that have put our power out for days.  No fun! 

Today was kind of a let down, though.  I had to head back to work! :(  It's worse when no one else is working along with you.  At most today, there have been three of us in the office.  Currently, I'm the only one here.  Not to mention that there is not very much to do...and no one is calling us.  On the positive side, the day is not dragging as bad as I had anticipated!!!

I have Christmas/snow pics, but they are at home.  I will do my best to upload them tomorrow so that I can share with you our very wonderful, very magical Christmas!