A Christmas to Remember

The first night of our Kansas Christmas was spent enjoying a visit with my grandparents. Midway through, my grandmother mentioned there was a blizzard warning.

Ah, it's probably just a lot of drama, we said. The weatherman is often wrong, we said.

We were foolish.

After leaving my grandparents in southeastern Kansas, we drove through fog. We drove through rain. We drove through sleet.

And we arrived before The Blizzard hit. So did The Youngest.

Huddled at my parents' in northeastern Kansas, we listened to the wind howl and the snow plows beep throughout the night, wondering what The Blizzard would mean for Family Christmas.

The next morning, we examined the 3-foot drifts and listened to stories of thick ice on the interstates.

Obviously, any family not already at Family Christmas were not going to be able to make it.

At this point, The Boy and I were wondering if we might not have been better off staying home and enjoying the rare snow in North Texas. But I digress...

We opened presents. We took lots of photos to share with the snowbound-in-other-cities. We ate a small Christmas meal.

Then we watched the weather and learned that more snow was coming. The Boy and my dad suggested that we might want to head back to Texas.

I thought that was a crazy idea.

I was outvoted.

So in the dusk of early evening, we dug a walking path to the car and used a leaf blower to remove the larger drifts off the windows.

Our first goal was to get out of the driveway, through a large snowdrift, without backing into The Youngest's car. Check!

Next goal, Do Not Get Stuck On The Ice at The Stop Sign On The Hill. In a flashback to my failed attempts to learn the friction point on my stick shift car as a high schooler, I got up speed and ran the stop sign. I even managed to avoid a fishtail swerve as we turned!

Then it was on to the gas station (We have a full tank, but at a terrible painful price, chattered The Boy, trying to warm his fingers) and a slow journey to the interstate.

I must admit that it was rather beautiful, driving through drifting snow. I think it's safe to say that the mental image is enough for me...we don't need to do it again!!

We spent the night in southern Kansas, resting up for the final 2/3 of the journey.

The roads in Oklahoma varied from clear and drying to thickly covered with ice. It was Not Fun at All.

And we counted 162 abandoned vehicles as we drove south on I-35. Yikes!

It's safe to say that we had a Christmas to remember, though I'm not sure it's the type of Christmas that we wanted to remember.

So while you're basking in the afterglow of your Christmas, take some time to email a photo of your Family Fun so we can experience it vicariously!