A Christmas Story (2009)

I never posted about my Christmas and I wanted to squeeze it in here before the holiday season ended (for me, that would be tomorrow).

The Christmas blizzard of 2009 started midnight on Christmas Eve (12am the 24th, just to be clear). By Christmas eve morning there was at least 8 inches of powdery fluff. It continuted snowing, and the temperature began to rise. We stayed home all day Christmas eve. My brother and his GF came over and hung out and then eventually made it home, we had a good time. The roads stayed clear enough for LEKT and her DH to arrive around midnight without too much issue.

The snow kept coming.

Christmas morning we woke up to at least another 8 inches, but this time there was nothing even remotely close to "powder" about it. I got up and headed straight out into it, wearing boots, jacket, gloves, hat, scarf, and pajama pants. It was some of the thickests, wettest snow I have ever have seen. This made it horrible to shovel (I helped Dad out by shoveling the stairs that could not be snow-blowed), but excellent for sculpting. I made a snowman, a snow horse, and a snow monster (named Snessie - like a Lochness monster). Back inside I was SOPPING wet, even under my jacket. I think by that time there was rain mixed in. My Dad remained outside snowblowing and shoveling our very long driveway (have a length estimate Dad?). He was afraid to use the plow because he did not want to tear up the ground. My brother meanwhile was over at his own house snowblowing a 1/8 of a mile of driveway. Around 10:30am his snowblower ran out of gas and he had to make a run for it - a driveway cleared 5-feet wide for a 6-ft wide truck, and an unplowed road. They did make it over without incedent!! Because all of the snow, we did not start opening presents until past 11:30, when normally this activity would begin before 9am, but it was loads of fun. We took a break in the middle to start cooking dinner. I think when all the presents were unwrapped, everyone was happy with their Christmas haul, and happy to all be together. Christmas dinner was excellent (Sauerbraten), and the snow just kept coming. It kept snowing until Sunday morning actually. My dad spent ALL DAY Saturday clearing snow both at our house and my brothers.

We had a second big dinner on Sunday, thanks to my request for my Mom's stuffing. It was tasty. My family has a slight food obsession, but I don't mind. I will, however, be working on portion control in the new year. :-)

Overall it was a great Christmas and a great visit to Duluth. I personally love blizzards, though, for the most part I am not the one spending entire days clearing snow, but that is the price of living in the country where driveways are so long. Columbus eased my return by having some snow of its own, which was nice.