I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

A white Christmas is always on my Christmas wish list.  Here in Arkansas we don't get many white Christmases.  The ones I remember from my childhood were the ones we spent in Massachusetts with my mom's family.  Just because it doesn't happen often here in the south doesn't mean a girl can't dream.  Husband on the other hand hates white Christmases.  They were the equivalent of a four letter word in his house because his father worked for the highway department and if it snowed or iced, which down here is more likely, he was called out to help clear roads. As a result, they never wanted a white Christmas or snow any other day of the year for that matter.

But this year, I got my wish....in a big way.

Christmas morning we woke up to....no snow on the ground but a forecast calling for a massive winter storm.  In fact there were blizzard warnings (I know, a blizzard warning in Arkansas, unheard of) for parts of Eastern Arkansas.  By noon there was some freezing rain mixed with a little sleet.  The radar looked ominous.  My in-laws, who arrived around 11:15 am, were in the car headed home by 1:00 pm due to the falling temperatures, ominous radar, and forecasted 8+ inches of snow.  By 2:00 pm when my father arrived for Christmas dinner, it was sleeting and starting to stick.  By 2:05 pm my mother, sick at home in bed, had called to tell my father the transformer behind their house was sparking and popping and the lights were going on and off.  She was sure they would lose power soon.  Back home went my father to be there if and when the power went out.  By 6:00 pm the snow was falling and my parents were without electricity.  By 8:00 pm my four children were nestled snuggly in their warm beds and husband and I were settling down for some nice television watching.  Alas it was not to be.  By 8:30 pm we too were without power.  We spent the evening snuggled in bed, candles lit, watching a not so bright man in his rear wheel drive truck try again and again to make it up the hill in front of our house and our of the neighborhood.  He gave it more than the good college try.  He made attempt after attempt, making it to our neighbors house 2 doors up before sliding back down the hill.  It was quite entertaining.  After about an hour, he finally gave up and left his truck in the middle of the intersection.  Not the smartest place to leave the truck but it wasn't my decision.

By morning, we had more than 10 inches of snow over a layer of ice, downed trees, no electricity and this directly outside our front door.

Our front door and front steps were completely blocked by tree limbs that had broken under the weight.  The only way out the front of the house was through the garage, manually opening and closing the door, since we had no electricity.

And here is a view of our backyard.

More trees down.  More landscaping lost.

Since we also had an electric stove and oven which obviously were not working, husband went outside and cleaned off the gas grill so we could use it for cooking.  Doesn't he look happy about this task?

We spent the day delivering Christmas goodies to our neighbors, playing with our new board games, and having some fun in sledding in the snow.  Unfortunately, when your house is cold and you have no dryer to dry your clothes, playing outside in the cold wet snow looses it's appeal pretty quickly.

It wasn't just our neighborhood without power.  Almost the entire city was without power.  By mid afternoon on December 26th, we "evacuated" down to husband's office.  Of course all the downtown office buildings had power.  I was tempted to sleep there.  A number of the attorneys, including my dad but not my husband, have small couches or love seats in their offices.  I figured we could fan out and each take a couch for the night.  At least we would be warm.  Thankfully we didn't have to resort to sleeping at the office.  The mother of one of our good friends took us in.  Our friends, her son, daughter in law, and grandson were also without power and staying with her.  When she heard we and my parents were without power, she graciously opened her home and took all 8 of us in for the night.  By the next afternoon, the power at my grandmother's condo (thankfully she was traveling for the holidays and not home during all this mess) had been restored and the eight of us moved to her house for the next two nights.  

By Saturday night our power was back on and we got to sleep in our own beds.  Hurray!  Of course, that long without power meant everything in both our main refrigerator and everything in the "beer" fridge in the garage was ruined and had to be thrown out.  But at least we were home.  We, along with the rest of the city, are still cleaning up the mess from the storm.  The snow and ice are gone, but the tree damage remains.  Husband and his dad spent last weekend cutting up the broken trees and fallen limbs in our yard.  There is still more to clean up and I can see our weekends filled with repairs for a little while.  We were lucky though.  We had no major damage to the house or back deck.   We lost some landscaping but that can be replaced.  We were all safe and together and that is what is most important.  

As for dreaming of a white Christmas again, I know I will want one again, but not for a few years, and I definitely WON'T wish out loud for husband to hear.  He's had enough snow to last him a while.