Christmas Eve Blizzard 2009

When we first moved to Texas, we assumed the winters would be just as warm as the summers. Our first Thanksgiving in Abilene, it was 82 degrees, with no sign of winter in sight. But as soon as we turned the calender page, BOOM, old man winter was standing there with a grin on his face, waiting for us. We quickly learned that the weather in west central Texas is completely unpredictable, and never to assume anything based on the year, week, or even day before.



On Christmas Eve, Jack Frost whistled a tune and surprised us all with a blizzard. Yes, an actual blizzard. We had known based on the weekly forecast that we may have a few flurries, maybe some sleet, but hadn't really planned on any kind of actual weather event. Just before heading to bed on the night of the 23rd, we overheard the television say "4-6 inches expected". Our heads turned quickly to the TV, and then to each other. ...really?

We woke up to a thin blanket of white fluff covering every surface except the roads. The snow was falling horizontally, and the more I watched it out the window, the sooner I figured I should get going. I had last minute shopping to do at Target in town (nothin' like a little procrastination to make you feel merry, huh), and was fully planning on risking my life to do it. After all, the roads were clear, and I really wanted to get things to assist Santa in the filling of certain stockings.

Fast forward through two fishtailing incidents and complete loss of control of the car later...

I made it home safely. Toys and gourmet coffee in hand.




As soon as the storm cleared, after about 8 hours of the smallest flakes whipping around in the wind, and I'm not kidding- we didn't waste even a minute, knowing that the best snow would melt as soon as the sun touched it, which is did, we suited up and launched ourselves into our front yard winter wonderland that had taken all day to get ready for its big presentation.

Charlie, as seen above, was the cutest. Oh gosh, boy, hold still so Mama can take 5 billion pictures. Rather than crying, like his sister did when she encountered her first snow, he smiled. He looked around, started squealing with delight in between breaths, and eventually got his hands and feet wet. After he realized that he couldn't get very far while trying to crawl, half because of his ridiculous red bear suit that we had stuffed him in (only $10 on sale at Old Navy, not bad right?), half because the snow was at least 5" deep where I had set him, he started screaming. Me, being the award winning loving mother that I am, let him scream, so that I could take more pictures. Whats a few extra minutes freezing your toes off in a pile of ice, anyways?



"Get over here, take a picture with your Mother!", I shouted while licking my fingers and then smoothing down their hair.



Eleanore LOVED the snow. She would have stayed out until she turned into a popsicle if I would have let her.

Snowballs. Snowpiles. Snowthrowing. Snowangels. ANYTHINGSNOWY.

Being an adult now, I have a very different outlook on snow. I remember being younger, and when it would snow I'd want to be out in it, catching snowflakes on my tongue (they taste like cupcakes and lollipops you know), throwing piles of flakes up in the air (Eleanore and I are so similar in so many ways) and letting them fall down onto my hair. I didn't care if it was cold, I couldn't feel it.

Not anymore. No sir. Its pretty, but, I'll kinda leave the description at that. You go play, I'll stand and watch. Its cold, and I can't feel my fingers, and I feel much better standing behind the warmth of my camera while your nose turns pink, thanks.


In the end, the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 2009 will probably be the most memorable snow storm that we will have ever seen. Maybe because it was the first "real snow" for both of the kids, maybe because it was on Christmas Eve, maybe because my parents were here. I'm so grateful for the amazing memories that we made that day, even if I almost did take out a red van when driving home from Target, and even if I couldn't feel the lower half of my body for 2 hours after we failed at making a snowman.