Christmas Day

Dear Mary and Jeni,

Christmas Day dawned snowy and cold.   That sound like a good first sentence.  I am trying to keep up with all the pictures, but I forgot to take a picture of the tree surrounded by presents.  It is not hard to surround the tree as it is just 3 feet tall.  However I did take a picture of Jim with one of his favorite presents.  A lovely tie pin...ahem...well, that is what he is calling it, done in the 'wheat' motif.   He wore it proudly, as you can see, until the end of the day.

We opened our presents and then sat around waiting for Jon and E to turn up.  Well we waited for about a half hour and then I decided that I had to make some snowpeople.  It was perfect packing snow.  It was a quick job, but I had to make Christy come out and help me lift the bottom pieces over the snow piles next to the sidewalk.  That was wet heavy snow!

When we were done we took a few pictures for posterity. 

Then we went in to dry off and wait for Jon and E some more.  Once they came Jon decided our van needed to be uncovered, so he volunteered.  What a good brother.

We had a very slow game (with 6 people) of hand and foot and when we were done we were exhausted.  E tried to get us to play another game but no one was up for a second one.   I know I went upstairs and took a nap. 

Christy played with Alice, or maybe it was the other way around.  I am about to go to bed and I think I am the last one up.  Tomorrow we are going to a movie.  Up in the Air is the one we have chosen.  George Clooney....yum.

Love  to you all,

Nancy

My Birthday Present

We went to the airport last night to pick up one of my Birthday gifts.  Of course I told Christy that it was a gift to her, but I know the truth.  It was fine on the way there although it was busy on the freeway.  However as soon as we got to the airport exit we ran into solid traffic all the way up to the terminal.  Evidently we were not the only people trying to get to the airport yesterday.  Someone must have told people about the coming storm.
Anyway as we waited in the long line the snow started.  It was rain for about 5 minutes and then little tiny very determined snowflakes.  By the time we had corraled Christy and made our way home the snow was already making the freeway look like a country road.

Christy had to kiss the parents even before she took off her 'sleeping bag' coat.

I am glad we made the tickets for Wednesday because this is what we woke up to....so far, about 8 inches.  I think that is Block leader  Bob using the block snow blower across the street.  He went up our side and was going down the other side and up everyone's driveway.

One of Christy's requests was to go to Turtle Bread so I found my boots and off we went.  I bought some good looking rolls for our Christmas Pizza/Card Party snacks and we had juice and a roll before struggling back.  We tried to go to Brown and Greene but they hadn't made it in yet so we settled for the Rick Rack store.

We came home and rested for a while.  Well, some of us rested and others texted.
Now Jim has gone off to eat his homemade sandwich and read their paper at Sebastian Joe's.  They must not mind much because they gave him a pint of eggnog ice cream yesterday.  He accepted it to after I complained at his refusing it last year.  He took Christy and she is going to the Linden Hills Co-op to pick up some spices and buy some things only she knows about.
Jon and E came over and changed into their snowshoes and went off for a little jaunt.  They say they will be back later.   It is still snowing lightly but is supposed to pick up again later.  I expect we will play some cards later too.
Love,
Nancy