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December 26, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!

It seems like the weather has been the center of most plans for the holidays! Just when the skies turned blue and it warmed up enough to melt the snow, we were hit with another blast of winter. This time we had a thin sheet of ice hidden under the newly fallen snow. I ventured out and walked up to the post office to get the mail (they don't deliver in our little town) and I managed to slip and fall on the way. Fortunately, nothing was damaged except my pride! And then, to make it worse, after making my way to the post office, the mail hadn't arrived! In fact, we haven't seen the mail for a few days and no newspapers either. All the roads over the coast range had been closed due to deep snow and fallen trees and branches from the ice, so making any deliveries has been impossible. Whatever happened to "through rain or sleet or snow..."?

We kept listening to the weather and road reports and the first chance the roads appeared safe, we packed up all the gifts, food and suitcase and headed for Portland. They had opened up Highway 6 over the coast range and so that was the way we went. It had been plowed and sanded and all the tree branches and limbs removed, but it was slow going as there had been more than two feet of snow up there. Although several cars were stopped to put on chains, we had four-wheel drive and didn't feel we needed any chains. We did just fine and the worst part of the journey was when we got over the mountains and into the freeway traffic in Portland. There had been over a foot of snow in Portland and the roads were like a parking lot. Everyone was going very slowly because of all the packed snow and we felt like we were riding on some old logging road full of bumps driving through the drifts and ice humps. And it seemed as if EVERYONE was out on the road trying to get their last minute Christmas shopping done. It took us twice as long to get to West Linn as usual and then Dave just dropped me off as he had a game that night and needed to get to the Rose Garden with out any more delays. It took him 5 hours to make the whole trip. Then, because he had 4-wheel drive, he took a co-worker home after the game, so he didn't get back to West Linn until 1 AM.

My family finally got together on Christmas Eve for a brunch. There was still a lot of snow on the roads, but Leslie and Jason packed the girls into the 4-wheel-drive pickup and made the trip to West Linn anyway. It was good to see them after all that has happened in their lives in the past couple of weeks. We made sure we told Jason that we were glad to see him. He admitted that it was "good to be seen" too. Anyway, he got an extra hug this Christmas! It was so much fun watching the granddaughters opening all the presents that we had given them. Leslie, Jason and their girls left at mid-afternoon to go to another family event.
It was a busy day and by the time bedtime rolled around, Greg and Lara's girls could hardly keep their eyes open. They set out cookies and milk for Santa and after that, Granddad read them "The Night Before Christmas" story. We had the NORAD Santa tracking site up on the computer, and they were watching Santa making his way across the world. When he finally made it to the east coast of the US, we told them he would be here very soon and that they really needed to get to sleep. It was funny watching the stampede as they ran for the bedroom. That's the one time during the year when the parents don't have to fight to get them in bed! They were so tired after the eventful day that they were all asleep within minutes of their little heads hitting the pillows!
We also got a report that on the way home, one of my granddaughters, Paige (the precocious one) was all worried that she hadn't been as good as she could have been this year. She was afraid that she wasn't going to make it on Santa's "good list" and asked her parents if Santa had an "almost list"! There was this "oh shoot" from under her breath when they told her there was not. Leslie says Paige was trying to redeem herself the rest of the day, hoping that she might make it to the "good list". I'm sure she made it!

We will spend the rest of the weekend in town and return home on Sunday. I hope your Christmas turned out great...full of food, family and fun!