White Christmas?!?!?!!

I can't believe Christmas is four days away and we have a foot of snow. Could it be possible that we have a white Christmas this year???? For those of you who don't know. I live in the pacific northwest, more specifically, western WA. We rarely have snow. When we do, it is usually in January, only a dusting or an inch or two and it is gone in 24-48 hours. Well, not this year!

Last weekend we got our typical dusting, but it was COLD! That dusting stuck a round and then last Wednesday it started DUMPING snow. Seriously! We had about 6-8 inches on Friday and now I'm sure we are over a foot! Sadly, we had a minor casualty last night...our gazebo collapsed. I had thought about taking the snow off the top yesterday but I didn't do it. Well, last night, down it went. We heard a crash and hubby and I looked and each other and I said, "gazebo!" We went out and sure enough, it was crumpled. We tried saving it, but it is gone. It is beyond repair. Sad. I got it for my birthday last April from my parents.

Speaking of parents...this Christmas was destined to be a strange one. Initially, my brother (younger, 21 yo) was supposed to leave on Friday for Alaska for 3 months to work on a fish processing boat. We were planning to have our family Christmas before he left. Well, at the last minute it didn't work out so he didn't go. So, back to plan A, Christmas at my parents. Well, on Thursday my mom flew to Wisconsin to surprise her sister who's turning 60. My mom has a large family. There are 8 sisters and 1 brother. All but one was able to make it to the surprise party. My mom was supposed to be back on Tuesday, but she called this morning and said the Minneapolis airport was closed due to weather. She asked how I felt if she stayed there for Christmas. Since it is a very very rare thing that all of them (including my grandmother) are all together especially for Christmas, I told her to go for it!

So, this year, on Christmas day...I don't know what we are going to do. I've never in my 26 years missed a Christmas with my family. I'm thinking I will see if my dad and my brother want to have breakfast together or something. I can't imagine my dad being alone on Christmas. Sad! I at least have my husband and my brother has his girlfriend, but my dad would be home alone with the dogs.

I was also thinking that it would be nice for my husband and his family to all get together on Christmas day. I will have to propose that when he gets up. We were planning to get together on Tuesday, but Christmas day would be the best.

Well, I'm going to go make myself some cocoa, and sit and watch the snow keep on falling...