Christmas Wishes

Who knew that a tent and sleeping bags could be so much fun in December? The kids set their tent up in the attic after they opened it Christmas morning, laid out their sleeping bags, books, snacks and lamps, and they were set.

Frank patrols the halls with his Nerf dart gun and sets up shooting targets all over the house. This morning the bathroom door was a target. I was trying to take a relaxing tub. Thunk thunk thunk. He whistles as he aims like a sharpshooter. "Or a serial killer," Bill says. Thanks for making me feel better about buying a toy gun for my son, Bill! :-)

Yesterday as I was carving the turkey and preparing to serve a full meal on the dining room table covered in a tablecloth with napkins and Christmas Fiestaware, I realized that I was still in my pajamas. I thought about changing, but then I noticed that the kids were also still in pajamas, Christmas socks and stocking hats (though Sophia favored a fabric book cover). This is us this year, I thought, and we sat down to a formal meal in pajamas and hats and with one Nerf gun sitting alongside a place setting.

It is sad that Grandparents have not been visited, nor have they been able to visit. I am guilty in my happiness and pleasure at being snowbound. This really has been a wonderful Christmas and I could not have wished for a better couple of days with the kiddos. I am almost sad at the thought of snowplows and cleared streets and my real life coming back sooner than I want - namely, end of year files to close and a report I need to write at work. I have been blissfully unaware of road conditions because once the decision was made to stay home, I didn't care.

It has reminded me a bit of the blizzards in the Sandhills with drifts as tall as my head right next to bare ground. If I didn't already feel Pioneer-Enough, the loss of water and electricity sure made the experience authentic. We would huddle around the wood stove and hope that Marion Lee would come careening out of the storm in his truck to take us to his ranch for Margaret Lee's potato soup.That's what I remember - huddling in a sleeping bag around the woodstove reading a book, the flash of Marion's truck lights as he pulled in, and that amazing soup of Margaret's - I had never had anything so good.

I made corn chowder tonight without potato. Bill and I joked about who would walk to the store for potatoes and stayed put in our warm kitchen. Then we used liquid hand soap in place of dish soap since we're out of that too.

We're at our limit for being snowed in, I think. I mean, we may look hearty with our winter tent camping, but although the attic is cold, it's not as cold as outside.

(Video taken December 25th during the Christmas Blizzard of 2009.)