White Christmas, my ass!
Well, we all want a white Christmas, but not quite this white, and not right ON Christmas day. My mother called on Monday night to see if we wanted to change all our plans because a big storm was a-comin’. Since she is entirely in the thrall of the weather-fear mongers, I treated this with the same personal concern I have for sea level rise — if it happens, I’ll deal with it. Then on Christmas Eve, as all anybody could talk about was the coming storm, we decided we’d better have a backup plan if it actually hit, and that backup plan did not include getting stuck in Rotterdam (“A Nice Place to Live”) for an extra day. So Christmas with my mother and sister has been put off until tonight. Did the other side of the family yesterday morning, and then had a slow but not treacherous slog home around 2 pm, then spent the afternoon trapped in the house watching the snow drift. It’s now up to the top of the tires on the Xterra, so any thought that I’m going on a road trip this morning is out of the question right now. They said it was our first Christmas storm since 1978, and it’s a doozy. Heavy, slippery, and plenty of it. On the upside, perhaps conditions will stay good for tobogganing on Saturday. I’d take the kids today, but . . . oh, maybe I’ll take them today anyway.
The girls were magnificent, and Christmas morning was nigh onto magical. Santa brought them some very nice things, and in a couple of cases their parents chose to take the credit for giving them what they really wanted. Hannah finally got her American Girl doll, which she has been lusting after for a couple of years, and which it occurred to me there was no reason on earth she shouldn’t have except that they’re expensive. I wouldn’t think twice about spending that much on a toy for ME, so I finally realized she should have it. Rebekah had wanted a real magic wand, despite several counseling sessions in which she was told that Santa probably couldn’t give away his magic. She had promised only to do good things with it, too. As an alternative, she wanted flying pills. She got 2 new sets of fairy wings to wear around the house, which she said was even better than flying pills.
More when I can. Much snow awaits my shoveling….