I'm (not) Dreaming of a White Christmas....

You know those years that you rush out of bed, perhaps even before you run out to see the loot under the Christmas tree, to see if it's going to be a white Christmas? Maybe not, depending on where you grew up. But if you were like me, you dreamed, hoped, and sometimes even prayed for a White Christmas...just one. You see, growing up in Dallas, we MAYBE saw one snowfall a year, and that might accumulate to a grand total of 1/10th of an inch. We got ice most of the time if we got anything at all. I think the one snowman I ever made there was about 6 inches tall...ha! And growing up in Dallas, I also watched the madhouse that erupted every time a snowflake would fall from the sky. An all out panic. Literally. It was like people were rushing to go buy snow tires afraid that we'd have a blizzard. And inevitably, you'd have the morons that thought that as a thin layer of ice froze on the roadways it was still ok to weave in and out of traffic speeding 20 mph over the speed limit. And then you have ice skating...in cars.

So let that image soak into your mind for a minute. I'll come back to that in a bit.

On Tuesday, my family left our home in Arkadelphia to go to my family's house in Dallas. We left Tuesday for a few reasons. #1 - we were trying to leave ahead of the monster storm that was approaching the next day and sticking around for another day or two after that. We didn't want to have to float to Dallas. We preferred the traditional driving. And #2 - I was doing 75% of the cooking and didn't want to arrive on Wednesday afternoon only to turn around and go to the store and have to begin that night. So Tuesday afternoon we got there about 6ish and headed to dinner with my parents. Since my kids were already off schedule from napping in an uncomfortable car seat, CiCi's made a great option for two cranky kids and two hungry and getting cranky parents.

Wednesday, I made my food list, shopped, baked, and cooked up a storm. Ethan was unusually fussy, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't nurse. He's been on three rounds of antibiotics for ear infections (two of them double) in the last month. We figured he was getting another, but since we had been the doctor just two days before getting them checked as we finished the last round of meds, we gave it another day or so.

Thursday...Christmas Eve. Now...re-enter first scenario. Remember that one? White Christmas? Yeah - well that happened. And all that about the driving and panicking? Yeah - that happened too. Weatherman? WRONG! Supposed to be a clear day, cold, but clear and sunny. Umm...not so much. Rain all morning. 11AM, I'm finishing up cooking, look outside and realize there are snowflakes coming down. Awesome! Until, that is, you turn to the weather channel and realize this is the first of hours and hours of snowfall and ice. At this point, nothing was sticking. BUT - temps were dropping, fast and were supposed to be well below freezing by evening. Snow was coming down - harder and harder. Winds were blowing - like 50mph wind gusts. Ever seen swirling snow? Yeah, I hadn't either. The excitement of snow on Christmas eve quickly died when all plans were cancelled. Sigh. Snow, on Christmas, in Dallas...really? I have to admit, I had a really bad attitude about the whole thing. I know, I know, shame on me. But I was so bummed out.

You see - two years ago when Zoe was 5 months old, she got the stomach bug. We discovered this about halfway there when she threw up in the car several times. I got it that night. My brother got it the next day. Then my mom. Then my husband...and on and on and on. So needless to say, that Christmas, we tossed our cookies instead of eating them...if you catch my drift. No festivities, no church service, no food, no family visits, nothing but frequent trips to hug the pearly white toilet. I am always worried about that repeating itself. But snow?? Never once crossed my mind. Turns out, the streets were really icy. Bridges were awful. And with everyone coming to us from 20+ miles away, they were bound to cross their fair share of bridges and be on the same roadways with those same morons who think they can still go the same speed they would normally. Thankfully, they thought best not to come that night. I was SO disappointed to say the least. I could have cared less about the food...I just wanted to see everyone since we only see them all once a year. But...temps rose just enough the next day that everything was just pushed back a day. Mom's side of the family came Christmas day night. Dad's side came the following day. So all was well. We saw everyone....ate too much...opened gifts...sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, etc etc etc. And in addition to all that...we PLAYED IN THE SNOW! There were a couple of inches on the ground by morning. Not good packing snow, though, so no snowman. A few nearby locations got as much as 9''. NUTS, I'll tell you!

So I guess I just thought I wanted a white Christmas...till I got one. It was kinda neat, though. Zoe, Ethan, and I had our first white Christmas all in the same year. Ethan was lucky enough to have his first white Christmas and his first Christmas all in the same year. And Dallas had it's first white Christmas since 1923. Arkadelphia on the other hand had something like 6 inches of rain and I heard that the community joined together to build an ark for Christmas. (Just kidding...well, about the ark part at least). Apparently, flooding was so bad that part of a major interstate was shut down as well as many roadways. Not sorry I missed that.

Unfortunately, by Thursday, Ethan had a full blown ear infection again. Not sure why he keeps getting them. We're on antibiotics again...fourth round in less than two months. Poor kid. Combine that with getting ever closer to cutting his first tooth, and being in a pack'n'play to sleep in instead of a cozy, big crib, and you've got a C.R.A.N.K.Y boy on your hands. And for some reason, Zoe thought she would show out the entire time we were there. I'm not sure why. Little stink! She was constantly getting into trouble, not the innocent kind...pure defiance. And had an attitude like nothing else! Two going on twelve.

So let me just tell you...the amount of stuff we brought back was...well let's just say that the back end of the van was filled to the very top. The.Very.Top. Three fourths of it made noise. Ahem. Just sayin'!

So it's Sunday now. We're back home. We had our gift opening tonight with the kids. Zoe got her first dollhouse and a furniture set to go inside and Ethan got a Stack'n'Action Choo Choo Train. At this point, we only get them one or two things a piece. Next year, probably, we'll begin to do the three or four gifts things (leading into the Christmas story with the three gifts from the wise men). We've decided to do the following...

Something you want
Something you need
Something to play with
And something to read

With the something to play with, when they get a little older, we'll give them each $20 or so a piece, take them to walmart or toys'r'us or something like that and let them pick out a family game to play for game nights. As they get older and want things like a Wii or big game system like that, we'll "combine" $$ and get those things that way.

So I'm really lazy right now. Partly because it's 10:45PM, and partly because pictures always upload opposite of the way you click them, so I have to think backwards and I'm too tired to do that right now. And partly because I'm distracted and getting a kick out of watching my poor husband try to put together a quad rider (mini four wheeler) Anyway, I'll do a separate post tomorrow with pictures...and a few videos maybe. Make sure to watch the one with the snow...it's amazing how hard that snow came down.