A Week of Snow and Ice

Every news outlet said that the conditions were going to be right for the Puget Sound Lowlands to get a white Christmas.   It's been a while since we got snow on Christmas and that it actually stays for a while.  I was pretty excited about the news but skeptical because they say we're getting snow and we don't actually get any or not very much.  I will see it when it happens.  Ben, on the other hand, didn't really want it to snow because he didn't want to come into work the next day on his day off to plow roads on JBLM.  So, he was hoping we hardly got any.  

Over the past three winters, we've been getting roughly 13-15 inches of snow on a Friday or Saturday, we enjoy it for maybe a day or two and it warms up and melts by Monday or Tuesday.  Then we don't get any more snow until maybe next winter.  So basically, we get all of our winter in one weekend.  I know we live in the wrong place to actually have snow and a normal winter but there's always the hope that we will...even if it is just a little bit.

For the conditions to be right, we have to have the moisture coming off of the Pacific Ocean and we have to have the arctic blast from Canada pushing down into our region.  This time, it was cold enough for us to get dry snow instead of the wet fluffy snow we usually get.  They said we could get up to an inch or two to several inches over the course of the next few days or so.  Granted, this depends on the elevation and where you live.  

It started snowing at my house around 4:30 on Christmas Day.  Snow fell for a while, and we got about an inch that covered the yard.  It didn't accumulate on the driveway or roads.  People kinda worried about driving home in it but again, the roads weren't that bad.  I imagine if snow fell over the course of the night, the roads would get pretty icy the next morning.

Of course, we stayed up late the night before and we slept in the next day.  I got up and ate a quick breakfast, watched some early football, worked on my blog for a little while and then everyone else got up finally.  

Around 1:30, I felt like getting some exercise, so I got bundled up, put my boots on and went outside and cleared off the vehicles and started shoveling the driveway.  This time we had two snow shovels.  I remember back in 2019 when we needed a snow shovel and we waited too long and couldn't get one...this is when Ben worked at Lowes.  I had to use a broom and a spade shovel to clear off our sidewalks and driveway, which was hard to do.  I needed a flat shovel.  Anyway, the snow was easy to clear because it was dry snow and very light.  The snow came down pretty hard for about half hour and covered up most of the work I did.

Ben eventually came out to clear off his car and get it ready to drive to work.  He had a shift at JBLM that started around 3 and ended at 11 that night.  He was so excited.  I told him to be safe and gave him some hugs and kisses.  

I ran over next door to feed Rhonda's kitty, since she was snowed in at her boyfriend's house over on Delphi Road.  I went back inside and watched the rest of the Seahawks game.  I could not believe we lost to the horrible Bears.  It snowed off and on all day.  Before, it got dark, I decided to go for a walk in the snow and I took Charlie with me because he's been inside for the past couple days all cooped up.  I think he enjoyed his walk in the snow. Ruddell Road was basically a sheet of ice and around 7 that evening we had about 7-9 inches of snow on the ground.  

Ben got home around midnight. 

The next day was my personal leave day, so I slept in and then snuggled with the kitties for a little bit.  Ben had a normal shift at JBLM except he got to go in a little later than normal because of the icy roads.  I eventually got up and had lunch because it was too late for breakfast.  I talked to Mom for a while, since she had the entire week off and then I got dressed and then went outside to do some more shoveling.  Keeping the snow off the driveway keeps it from getting really icy.  

I saw Doug took my Escape instead of his because he didn't trust his car driving in the snow and ice due to the low clearance.  Plus, the resent damage done to the front of it from a hit and run in West Seattle a few weeks back.  I didn't blame him but now I was stranded at home if I wanted to go anywhere.  My neighbor came over and handed me some money and goodies for feeding her cat yesterday and we chatted for a few minutes.  I went inside and did some laundry, the dishes, talked to Doug on the phone, worked on my blog and Doug ended up coming home early.  I took the Escape to the store to go get milk and other things for the week came home, put groceries away and then decided to take Charlie out for another snow-filled walk.  

I brought the mail keys with me and on the way back to the house, I went to check the mail.  It was so cold outside the key got stuck in the keyhole.  I didn't want to walk away from the mailboxes, so I had Ben meet me at the mailboxes with a tool to get the key out.  We would have to wait until it warmed up a bit to get the mail.  

We made ground chicken nachos with leftovers from Christmas Eve taco night while we watched MNF with the Dolphins and Saints.  I won fantasy football that week, Ben did the dishes and then played his game.  I finished the laundry and relaxed the rest of the evening.  Four-day weekends do go by super-fast.  

I looked forward to Tuesday because I was going to work a half a day for my dentist appointment and then have all afternoon to do whatever I wanted.  Haha, nope!  My dentist office was canceled because the roads were still icy, and no one wanted to come into work.  Now, I was stuck at work all day and canceled my leave.  Bummer.  

I did my usual routine.  Doug had the day off and Ben had a 3-11 shift once again.  During my morning break before Ben left for work, we took photos of our kitties in the snow.  Wade was okay with it and Oliver was like, nope!  

The rest of the afternoon I did my job and logged off at 4.  I got my warm clothes on and took Charlie on another cold snowy walk through the neighborhood.  

We got back, I fed the kitties, worked on my blog a little bit, started dinner of fried potatoes and diced ham and did the dishes as I went.  I ate dinner, worked on my blog some more, watched more bowl games, got cleaned up, put some stuff away and then got ready for bed.  Two more days until a three-day weekend!

On Wednesday, Ben slept in most of the day because he had another 3-11 shift at JBLM plowing streets.  I did my usual thing at work in front of the computer in the living room.  

Wade wouldn't stop sitting in front of my screen so I could work.  He and Oliver decided to play underneath the tree most of the day.  

Ben eventually got up, took a shower and ate some breakfast.  I chatted with Doug and Bev at lunch time.  During the last half of my lunch time, I got the roast, spices, liquids and veggies into the crock pot so it would be ready by dinnertime.  I finished up my work and logged off at 4.  My friend, Alicia, stopped by to drop off some money for watching her dogs during Christmas while she was visiting family in Yakima.  We chatted for about a half hour and then she went to go take care of a few more errands before more snow came.  I took Charlie for a walk around the neighborhood again.  

We got home and the food was just about done in the crock pot.  Doug and Ben were home.  I fed the kitties, dished up some food, watched the Alamo Bowl, it started snowing again, I worked on my blog, got cleaned up and watched some Riverdale up until bedtime.  One more day until another long weekend! 

On the last working day of the year, which happened to be a Thursday this time, I woke up thinking that it was my day off and was very disappointed when it wasn't.  Of course, I should have known, we got an email stating that the reviews were going to be late.  Why did I know something stupid was going to happen?  I was bored for about an hour and a half because the date extensions were late as well.  

Once everything did come, I was able to stay busy until lunch time.  Luckily, it was a pretty light day.  Ben was on another 3-11 shift, so he pretty much slept in late, got cleaned up and had breakfast before he had to leave.  I shared my tuna with the kitties, Dad called me for a bit, I went outside to shovel snow and I made a chubby snow duck.  

I got most of my stuff done before my afternoon break.  I walked over to Rhonda's house to feed her cat since she was still snowed in.  I finished work, logged off at 4 and took Charlie for a walk around the neighborhood in the snow.  

We got back and I fed the kitties, started pork chops, wild rice and green beans.  We watched more bowl games, worked on my blog, talked to Mom and Trish for a while, ate popcorn, went to the store for some NYE stuff, got cleaned up, watched Riverdale and went to bed.  Yay three-day weekend and a new year!!

The snow stayed until about Saturday and then it started warming up.  This was the longest in a while the snow stayed around.  It was kind of nice actually even though it canceled a lot of things and had to make people adjust to it.  I'm glad no one I knew drove off the road or got in a car accident.  I know it's been a long time since we had a white Christmas and it was actually kind of magical, sorta.  I wish everything went back to normal as it was before Covid, and everyone started getting old and passing away.  I'm glad we've been getting snow for the winter because it breaks up all the miserable rain and wind, we get all the time.  It was actually refreshing.  I think I am ready for sunshine and summer now.

Next Adventure:  NYE and New Year's Day

Christmas Day

Here we are.  My 38th Christmas and my 4th Christmas without Grammie.  It just isn't the same without her.  If you asked me years ago on how I would be spending Christmas in the year 2021, I wouldn't have come close to guessing how we actually spent it this year.  I would have told you that we would be spending it with everyone either at my house or someone else's without this awful stupid pandemic that is still, two years later, circling the globe.  I am so sick and tired of people keeping Covid around.

This year we were a little behind on everything...getting the tree, decorating, putting the lights on the house, doing Christmas cards, etc. because Doug's lifestyle change kept us very busy.  That also meant that the list for the family gift exchange was also pushed back a little bit so when Mom did decide to get it done, it didn't give us a lot of time to get a hold of the person we had to find out what they wanted and purchase it for them.  I also had to find out if Kevin, Karla and Tracy were coming so we knew to include them in the gift exchange.  I emailed them and Kevin and Karla are still weird about Covid, and Tracy supposedly was working on Christmas.  I told Mom not to include them, so she didn't, and we emailed everyone the list in early December.

Everyone spent the next few weeks trying to find presents for everyone.  I am thankful I spent most of the year getting little things for everyone as the year went on, so I wasn't doing it all in December with everything else going on.

I emailed everyone again on December 20th, to let them all know the tentative schedule for Christmas and what times we were doing everything.  I made sure to get that to Trish, Ed, Amy and Jean since they were the ones who were traveling from the furthest away to get here.

Ben and I went to bed really late the night before, but I still set the alarm for 8 a.m.  We had a bunch of stuff to do before everyone got here around 9.  I put both casseroles in the oven because they had to cook for an hour, cut up the blueberry muffins into fourths, bunched the grapes, washed them and cut the bananas in half.  Everything went in a fancy bowl or platter.  Ben put the table clothes on the tables because if we did it the night before, the kitties would have messed it up and put holes in it.  We set the tables with Grammie's plates and cups, put up decorations and then did some last-minute things before everyone got there.

I got all of the food onto the dining room table in the other room and people started to arrive.  We helped them bring in their presents and took their coats as they got settled in.  Dad went to go pick up Grandpa from Bonaventure as we were getting the final touches on breakfast and people arriving.  Dad got there shortly after everyone with Grandpa in tow just in time for breakfast.  We wheeled him up to the head of the table and Dad helped dish up food for him.  We got him a straw for his orange juice.

We all grabbed some breakfast from the awesome food spread and sat down at the table.  We ate, catted about random things...mostly about the snow that was supposedly going to come later on tonight.  I will believe it when I see it because we rarely get a white Christmas.

After we were done eating, we cleaned up and I loaded up the dishwasher and started load of laundry with the cloth napkins so they would be available for dinner as well.  Dad wheeled Grandpa around so we could visit and talk with everyone.  He even got to per Charlie, who was wearing his sweater, in his pen.  We all gathered in the living room, found a place to sit and got ready to open presents.  This year Ben was Santa and handed out presents to everyone.

It was a wrapping paper-box frenzy for about a half hour.  It was hard to see what everyone else got since everyone was opening presents at the same time.  I got a Golden Girls calendar from Erika, a crap ton of board games from Willmarth, an external hard drive and a headphone case for my Skull Candy headphones from Ben, we got a pot from Trish and Amy gave us some Home Depot gift cards.  My main gift to Ben was the Kraken jersey.  I hope we get to go to a Kraken game to where we get to wear our jerseys.  Wade came out for a while to see what was going on and Oliver didn't want nothing of it. 

There was so much paper and boxes on the floor you could wade through them.  Yes, we all threw waded up wrapping paper at each other, plus there were the Nerf shotguns from yesterday and arrows were being shot everywhere too.  

It was quite the chaotic scene.  We let the dog out of his pen for a while and of course we threw waded up wrapping paper at him too.

Everyone helped cleaning up the wrapping paper from the floor and Trish broke down all the boxes for me so we could save them and reuse them next Christmas.  We all spent time getting our stuff organized and a few of us decided to head home for a few hours.  Erika, Zach, Mom and Grandma all went home for a while.  Dad took Grandpa back to Bonaventure and then went home.  Trish, Ed, Amy and Jean stayed here with us.  I got the two halves of ham out of the fridge and started to prepare them for roasting.  I mixed up the glaze and got the pineapples out.  Ben helped me poke pineapples into the ham.  I poured the glaze on it, set the temperature and put the aluminum foil on it and let it cook for about 5 hours.  Doug fell asleep on the couch, Amy did later on, and Ben did just before dinner was ready.

I did a little bit of cleaning, we played a few games from our box Willmarth gave us including King's Crown and I swear to God, somehow, Ed was cheating because this game isn't the easiest to play.  We played a couple rounds of marbles and a few games of 10,000.  I didn't win any of them.  I periodically checked the ham off and on.  We watched the 1:30 p.m. game of featuring the Browns and Packers.  The Packers were very lucky to have won that game.  Packers won 24-22.

As dinner time approached, Jean and Trish helped me get things going including the potatoes, gravy, green beans and the rolls.  Trish was supposed to bring the rolls and left them at home, so I called Erika to have her, and Zach bring over the leftovers from last weekend's Christmas party at Grandma's house.  Yes, we made fun of Trish for the remainder of the evening. I assigned Grandma Jell-O and apple crisp, Mom and Dad were bringing the veggie platter and cookies, Erika and Zach were responsible for the salad and now the rolls and Ben and I were pretty much responsible for the rest.

That last hour of getting everything ready was crazy but was glad to have the help since the peeling, cutting and boiling potatoes take up a bunch of time.  The new pot Trish got us for Christmas sure came in handy.  Ben helped me change out the tablecloths for a set of new ones, we got out Grammie's other plates, the same glasses and silverware and set out some decorations as we did during breakfast.  I noticed it started snowing lightly.  We may get a white Christmas after all!

We started setting the food on the dining room table as it got done and Trish made the gravy.  She almost used all of my corn starch because it didn't want to thicken for us.  We laughed and gave her a hard time.  Yes, we added that she forgot the rolls too.  Haha. Everyone was waiting patiently to eat while we waited for the gravy to get done.  After about fifteen minutes, Trish said that it was as ready as it's going to be.  Let's eat!

The food definitely hit the spot and turned out fantastic.  We all watched the snow fall outside.  Some of us complained and some of us embraced it.  I embraced it.  I enjoy the snow since we hardly get any living in an area that doesn't get much snow each winter.  Lately, we've been lucky, but it rarely snows on Christmas.  It was still weird having Christmas without all of our people.  I was happy that Grandpa got to come for breakfast and socialize with everyone.  It was a little bit of normal to how we used to celebrate family holidays.

Once we were done eating, we cleaned up, I loaded the dishwasher for the second time that day, washed the cloth napkins and the cloth table cover from the dining room table.  We ended up watching the second game, the Colts and Cardinals, pretty much the rest of the evening.  That one was close as well with the Colts knocking off the Cardinals 22-16.  We played a few games for those of us who wanted to, ate dessert and then we took a few dozen family photos before everyone decided they should get on the road before the snow accumulated.

We thanked everyone for coming and Ben and I spent a few minutes putting the tables and chairs away.  We put the food away and did the rest of the dishes that needed to be hand washed.  I asked Ben if he wanted to go with me to Tumwater to feed Alicia's dogs and he said sure.  The drive over was quite interesting because the snow had accumulated on different parts of the road.  I wasn't worried though.  My Escape actually drives pretty well in the snow.  We let the chihuahuas go to the bathroom and we made sure they had food and water.  We weren't there very long because she was coming home the next day from her trip.  We headed home.

I took many pictures of the snow because I was super excited that it actually snowed on Christmas since it hasn't done it for a while.  We spent the rest of the night putting stuff away, watching television and relaxing before it was time for bed.  Ben, unfortunately, had to go to work the next day at JBLM so he could plow the roads from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. so that meant his schedule was going to be weird the rest of the week.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Next Adventure:  A Week of Snow and Ice

Christmas Eve

I really didn't want to host Christmas Eve and Christmas, so I eventually talked Erika into hosting it at her place with Zach.  We talked about it off and on just to make sure she was still on board, and she said she was...we just had to make a solid plan of when and what we were going to eat.  During her birthday party we talked about it briefly and everyone agreed on tacos and doing it around 4 on Christmas Eve.  Everything was set.  Now we just had to decide what everyone was going to bring for tacos.

I wrote everyone a reminder email on the 19th and let everyone know what to bring and only Grandma wrote back.  Erika and Zach were going to provide the meat and seasonings and whatever else was already in their fridge, Ben and I were going to bring the beans, rice and cheese, Grandma wanted to bring the lettuce and taco sauce and Mom and Dad brought the chips and salsa.

Erika called me a few days beforehand to ask me to bring the folding tables.  I told her I would throw them in the back of the Escape with all the presents I had to bring.  She said that they had a tiny tree that was sitting in front of their fireplace because they didn't have room for an actual tree in their house.  I told her she could rearrange everything, and she said no, she and Zach were fine with their tiny tree with like four ornaments on it.  I just laughed.

I am so glad we had Christmas Eve off.  This was the first time since I've been at L&I, that Christmas Eve was a paid holiday.  Every other year I just worked it because there was no sense in taking it off.  I did, however, take the day off after Christmas off if it wasn't a weekend.  If it was, I took the following Monday off. 

My Christmas Eve started out around 10:30, yeah...I slept in, ate a quick breakfast of grapes, yogurt and half a blueberry bagel.  I told Mom I was going to be heading into Rainier soon to drop off the recycle and she asked me to stop by the store to pick up some Karo syrup because she wanted to make some caramel popcorn.  I loaded up the recycle and stopped by the store.  I asked Erika if she needed anything for our gathering later on that evening and she said to find out what is in Grandma's punch and to get her some.  I went into Rainier and dumped off the recycle and then went to Grandma's house to drop off some stuff and found out Grandma had some extra Karo since the store was completely out of it.  We chatted for a bit and then I went to Mom and Dad's house to also drop some stuff off, pick some stuff up and fill the water jugs with Rainier water.  I helped her make caramel popcorn.  I loaded stuff into the Escape and headed back into Lacey.

Ben and I did a couple chores and then got ready to go over to Erika and Zach's for Christmas Eve.  Ben helped me pack up the tables, food, presents and we headed over with Doug in tow.  We got there before 4:00 and Doug, Ben and I brought in all the stuff.  Erika was in the middle of getting the taco meat ready and told me that she had no idea how much to make.  I told her that was my problem every time I hosted a party or gathering with food.  Now she understood how much work and thinking went into hosting a bunch of people at your house.  Zach got out the fart machine and made everyone laugh.

We put all the presents underneath their tiny tree...which was basically a pile near the fireplace.  Mom, Dad and Grandma showed up and we helped bring in their stuff.  Mom, Grandma, Erika and I finished setting out all the food on the counter trying to keep Emmett and Toby from getting in the kitchen.  Erika had this wimpy gate, that was set up in front of the entrance to the kitchen and it seemed to be doing its job...for now.  

The food was done so we all crowded into the kitchen and loaded up on tacos, tortilla chips and salsa and went into the living room to spread out and eat.  I sat at one of the folding tables because I didn't want to hold my food in my lap.  Of course, the dogs expected some handouts.  We chatted and Erika and Zach threw on a movie to watch in the background called Klaus.  I've never heard of it before, and it had a good message.

We opened presents and made a huge mess of crinkled up paper, tissue paper and boxes.  The dogs were having a heyday and still expected us to share our empty plates with them.  We threw waded up paper at each other and to make matters worse, Zach bought Ben, Doug and Dad nerf shotguns and of course, they shot them at everyone.  They kept hitting me in the face, the knuckles and the kneecaps.  Those buggers sting when they hit you.  I helped Erika pick up all the paper and stuffed it into the garbage bags.  I told her I would take it to the recycle when I went.  Everyone got their stuff organized since the living room was destroyed with wrapping paper.  Zach turned on another movie called Notzilla but we didn't end up finishing it.  

We thanked Erika and Zach for hosting Christmas Eve and a good time.  We gathered up all of our stuff, leftover food and the folding tables and loaded them into the Escape.  I told Erika to bring the boxes over the next day since we didn't have room with everything inside of it.  She said she would.  Mom gave me the Christmas breakfast casseroles and Grandma finished my Coug bench seat cover that I paid her to do.  She did a good job and it looked pretty sharp.  

We drove home, unloaded the stuff and I started getting the house ready for Christmas the next day.  I did have to leave to check my friend's dogs, who was out of town for the holidays.  I came back home and vacuumed, mopped and you bet I had a Christmas Story running in the background.  I finished decorating the house and got my Coug bench decorated now that I had my seat cushion.

Close to 1 a.m. I was finally done; Ben and I put on our jingle jammies and went to bed.  Tomorrow was going to be a long day.  Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Next Adventure:  Christmas Day