Wednesday, Dec. 26

First white Christmas in years, even if it did happen after dark. We remember having one about 2004 in our county, though it was nothing like this one, which was the heaviest snow in recorded history. When this one arrived, it came with a force, blowing snow sideways into drifts for several hours of the night.

Many thousands in our state lost power, including members of our family, but we were fortunate that the lights never even flickered at our house. We feared that with the howling wind, we might either lose power, or lose trees, in the night, but we awoke this morning to a warm house.

We had trouble going to sleep, though...maybe because it was so eerily quiet outside, where absolutely no traffic was on the road. Then we awoke around 6:30 this morning for some reason.

As soon as it was light enough outdoors, I snapped a few pictures of the winter wonderland through the windows. But after breakfast, I lost no time suiting up to go out and walk around the yard.

I didn't stray too far, though, because it was very difficult walking in Hubbie's rubber boots through the eight to ten inches of snow. I stayed out only a little while, because it didn't take long for my fingers and toes to freeze.

Later, around 10:30 a.m., when daughter got up, she suited up to go out and build a snowman. I stood on the back porch and shot pictures while she did that. Like me, she got cold pretty quickly, and was ready to come back inside.

She skipped breakfast, since it was so close to lunchtime. For lunch, I added noodles to the stewed chicken we cooked Monday. Chicken noodle soup was just the thing on a cold day like this. With it, there was a choice of sandwich materials...homemade pimento cheese, or deli turkey...as well as Italian Cream Cheese ball and crackers, and veggie chips.

Afterward, Mother headed to the couch for a nap, and the rest of us spent the afternoon watching Lifetime Movie Network mysteries. Mother slept a couple of hours.

For supper, we had chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, asparagus, fruit salad, and sourdough bread. Afterward, we played four games of Skipbo, with each of us winning a game.

Mother was ready for bed after that, and it wasn't long before we were, too.