Monday, December 28, 2009

White Christmas

When K asked all three Santas she saw this year for a pink sled and snow and then she said several prayers asking God to bring us snow, I had no idea she would be getting her wish. For the first time in many many years we had a white Christmas. It was amazing, beautiful, crazy and overwhelming for me all at once. My sister in law, Heather, probably thinks I am crazy now. hehe!


Getting her first taste of snow. She had to taste the snow!



Wade, K and I, and Kyle and Heather got up Christmas eve morning (Thursday) at my mom and dads house in Dallas to a winter weather looking day with rain. No big deal! The weatherman had predicted rain all day so Heather and I made plans to finish a few more errands for Christmas. By noon though things had changed, it was snowing! It was not the small tiny snowflakes either. NO, They looked like the big ones you see up in Colorado or elsewhere. YEAHHHH!!! My excitement kicked in. I giggled and smiled like I was 10. I may have even felt like I was 10 a few times. Heather and I got ready and headed out while Kyle, Wade and dad did the same, a few errands. By the time Heather and I got back to the house four hours later the roads were wet, it was close to below freezing and the houses and yards were covered in snow. Gods amazing beauty at its purest for me! I love the smells, seeing everything white, the way the snow glistens and my favorite is that swhoosing sound that the wind makes hitting the snow. Oh I was a mess! giggling, giddy, clapping with lots of delight, a smiling fool! I am sure a few people wondered what I was on. Best of all though... K was experiencing the blessing of snow.







Christmas Day we exchanged our gifts, had breakfast together and by that afternoon K was ready to go out and play in the snow. It was a very sunny morning so the snow was melting quickly but there was plenty to play in. She had a blast having snowball fights and building a snowman with Wade and some local kids. She came in completely wet and muddy...only in TX.




My brother, Kyle, was scheduled to work on Saturday but because W!chita Falls got up to 10 inches of snow in some areas and we had heard from my aunt and uncle who left our house Christmas morning how BAD the roads were, we begged Kyle to not head back and wait another day for the roads to clear some more. It was a good decision on his part because we saw A LOT of stranded cars, trucks, vans, and semis on the side of the road or median when we all left together two days later.





What should have been a 2 hour trip into W!chita Falls for all of us turned out to be a five hour drive. Kyle has a truck so we thank goodness picked up some gravel and sand bags to weight his truck's back end down. Then we filled the tanks up. That was the best idea we had considering we ended up being in a two lane traffic jam half way there due to terrible ice and a wreck on the road. Oh yes, we sat in the middle of the highway for almost 2 hours. It was not that bad though...it's amazing how many people were out of their cars playing in the snow, using the snow for a bathroom break and walking up and down the highway. We made it into WF several hours later and we were shocked! The town was still and almost dead. I could not believe how much snow they had. If I thought the drive in to town felt like Colorad* then I must have landed there with all that snow. Let's just say in 20 years I have never seen that much snow in the town.

Wade had a wonderful time driving. He was wanting to have some fun on the snow and he got his chance. He was a wonderful driver though. Thank goodness for all those years and trips in Colorado. I felt very safe honey - more safe with you than on dry roads! Unfortunately we did not get to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles because it was 6 by the time we made it to town and we knew IF we were heading further North that night we had to make it a quick trip. We visited with my grandparents for almost 2 hours and headed toward Oklahoma. Another drive that normally takes an hour took almost 3 hours for us. It was a looooooonnnnnngggg day but we were safe and seeing more family.

We were finally in Ok!ahoma. On our next to last leg for the holidays. We will be spending five days up here before we head back to Dallas for the New Year holiday and then journey back home. By the way, if you have ever seen the movie four christmases...know that's our family plus one more christmas in four different cities. We go and travel like the energizer bunnies. Our first morning in OK we headed to Wades Dads house. I should have known heading over there with all the pretty fluffy white thick snow that the day would be filled with a few kids in the snow and snowballs fights. Who can tell seven kids under 10 years to stay out of the snow. It was certainly not going to come from me even though K was not dressed for a snow day. She was warm enough though with all the layers she had on. Poor thing, I think she has lived in three or four shirts the last few days. She has not complained but I wonder, does she feel like the abominable snow monster? Yes, it makes for lots of laundry too. (worth every smile and memory in my book though!)













Our last few days in OK have been spent with Wades mom and Don. On Monday morning K and I headed outside while everyone else had a few errands to run. We had so much fun playing in the snow. Man, I forgot how much work it is to make a snowman and how much energy the snow can take out of you. We were both exhausted when we came in. I can say without a doubt that K has had many experiences with snow this year and she enjoyed every minute of rolling in it, jumping in it, having snowball fights or cleaning off the cars. I am very thankful our year ended this way and I feel very blessed that she had the opportunity.




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