Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Where did the year go?
Sunday, December 27, 1998. WHAT A GREAT CHRISTMAS!!! The boys could barely contain themselves they were so excited. Shari and I could hear them moving around in the living room while we laid in bed, listening for a moment to their unreserved joy. Chris' voice was almost a squeal as he relayed his discoveries to his older brother. We could hear his feet running up and down the hallway as he debated whether to wake us or not. "Did you see these presents? Did you see these presents? They're huge!" he would gleefully exclaim over and over. First to his brother, then to us as we finally came down the hallway. The punch line came when Mr-cinical-I'm-eleven-and-don't-believe-in-Santa-Claus announced when we arrived in the living room, "We must have been better than last year!". It's comforting to discover that there is still some innocence left when the children seem to be growing up far too quickly.
They promised us a white Christmas and boy did we get one! We had nothing but sub-freezing temperatures up until the 23rd then the temperatures warmed up a little and it snoooooowed. We got three inches on Christmas eve. No big deal right? White Chistmas again this year for a perfect white Christmas record and we'll have all day Chrismas to shovel the driveway. Well the best laid plans of mice and men.... We figured a little light snow removal would allow for some outdoor time once the presents were open and the toys were played with and help burn off some of the calories accumulated over the holidays. What we didn't count on was the sudden onset of a winter storm warning for the entire state of Washington and the seven inches that storm brought on Christmas. It was a good thing we didn't have any place to be. Church? Not today I'm afraid. Another thing that we have learned to count on is that all of the snow removal equipment will break down just as soon as you need it. The snow blower wouldn't start and neither would the tractor so out came the shovels. We did finally get the tractor going with the blade on but it's a little tractor and just wasn't up to pushing 10" of snow (neither was I, but what are you going to do).
Now for the frustrating part. We clear 10" of snow with shovels on the Saturday the 26th and then it starts to rain... and rain...and rain. So what do you get when you combine frozen ground, a rapidly diminishing 10 inches of snow, 45 degree temperatures and an inch or two of rain? I don't know either but it was a mess.
Winter is here!!! It is Monday, December 21, 1998, the shortest day of the year. That means tomorrow will be longer than today and the next day will be longer still.
Winter didn't mess around either. We are dealing with sub-zero lows at night and highs that are only in the low to mid teens, brrrrr. We don't have any snow on the ground either. We have only had a couple of inches all year long when we should have a couple of feet. There seems to be some debate as to whether we will see a white Christmas this year. Aside from trying to keep the pipes from freezing we are doing well. The cold is supposed to break sometime in the middle of the week and they say we will warm up to a balmy 26 degrees or so by Christmas. Hey, we'll take what we can get.
Shari has to work tonight (Monday) but after that we all have the week off to enjoy the Christmas holiday and each others company. Paul and Chris could use a little outdoor time as their starting to get on each others nerves and living in such a small place it is kind of hard for them to stay out of each others way. They are being extreemly good at getting along all things considered. Let's see how things progress into January and February though.
That's it for now. We got some pictures posted finally. I updated the humour page too, so be sure to check it out before you go. Thanks go out to all of you that contributed. Until next time...
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas Everbody!!!
We can be reached at johnsharideb@earthlink.net