Christmas Day Last Hurrah

Our White Christmas was a doozy this year! Lots of old snow, and lots of new snow.....

I love these top hats on the posts!

Looking off of our front porch

A couple of shots of that long, thick icicle off the house

Path off our front deck. The snow was deep.

The 'kids' all arrived late morning by hiking in, and by 3:30 PM all of us except Darrell were hiking back out. I had to work the next day, Bethany J needed to get out to say goodbye to all of her friends, and everyone else lives down in Monroe. We packed our backpacks and suitcases and started the trek up to the top of the switchback and beyond. Here you can also see one of our cars stuck in the ditch.

The two Bethany's come upon a fallen tree

She has the cat-child Gideon in that carrier!

The Fed-Ex van that has been stuck and abandoned on our switchback since Dec. 12 is completely buried now! You better hope you didn't have any packages on this van!

Trudging along.....

Now to back-up Ryan's truck to a spot where he can turn around. He keeps getting stuck in the snow bank.

Scott tries to direct him from the rear...

It takes one hour to back up as far as it might take 20-30 seconds to drive forward without snow. Now to shovel out a road to back into so we can turn around. It is after 5 PM by now, and getting dark.

Darkness overtakes us...

Driving slowly out, we cut through one small tree, then come upon one that is too big to cut through with our hand saw. The boys try to, but it is pointless. Trees continue to fall around us. We call a 'neighbor' who is just sitting down to Christmas dinner, but he and his two adult sons drive out in their tractor with a chain saw to help us. Here is the light from the tractor coming down the road... bringing a different kind of savior for us!

All the men try to get at the tree, but it is too high. They cut the branches off that are blocking the road so we can drive under. But we don't quite fit. The tractor creates a packed snow ditch so we can move up to the higher side of the tree, and we finally drive through! By now it is about 6:30. Three hours after leaving the house, we have traveled 1 1/2 miles! We are cold, feeling trapped and oppressed, but not down for the count!

Downtown, Ryan's neighbors have built a life-size igloo in their front yard!

This snow has been beautiful, but if anyone wishes for a White Christmas next year, watch out! I may come wielding a weapon! Enough, already!!!

Christmas Delights

This year were were at Ryan's house for our traditional White Bean Chili on Christmas Eve.

Darrell made his delicious cinnamon rolls for the holidays, too.....


Christmas dinner was a roast beef with garlic mashed potatoes and Sunshine carrots.....

Breakfast on Christmas included a favorite cranberry coffee cake.....

Cranberry Upside-Down Coffee Cake

Cake:

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted dates

1 cup fresh cranberries

2 Tbs chopped walnuts

1 tsp grated orange rind

1/2 cup butter, softened and divided

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 Tbs fresh orange juice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp butter, melted

2 Tbs fresh orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Coat a 9 x 9 pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Melt 2 Tbs butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, 2 Tbs orange juice and cinnamon; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle cranberry mixture evenly over brown sugar mixture.

3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Cream sugar and 6 Tbs butter in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and egg. Beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beating well after each addition, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon batter over cranberry mixture.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; run a knife around outside edges. Invert cake onto a plate.

5. Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over cake. Cut and serve.

Comfortably Stranded!

Although we all made it home for a few hours on Christmas day (by hiking in and back out of our neighborhood), I have not been able to return home since our horrendous ordeal of getting back out on Christmas afternoon. Hubby is stranded at home; I down in Monroe. Each day I hope to be able to return, but it hasn't been possible, thanks to all of the snow, ice and falling trees. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. Meantime, my son Scott and his wonderful wife Bethany, have been gracious to let me hang at their house when I am not at work. Their house is warm. I love being warm. I need nothing more. Well, maybe an occasional shower. They also have a 42 inch TV and cable! That is an added bonus! I have been glued to wonderful shows like..... Animal Planet. Cooking Shows. Home Makeovers. Addicting stuff! Today I tried to see just how many channels one could access on cable. I gave up after I got into the 800's! Can you believe that? At home we receive a handful of channels, and unless someone wraps a hand around the rabbit ears, they are hardly worth watching. Probably a good thing, if today's laying in front of the TV with complete inertia is an indicator of what my life would turn into with cable!



My grandchild-cat lives here, too. What a spoiled cat-child! But I love Gideon anyway..... after all, blood is thick. He only likes me if his mom and dad are gone, such as now. He is curled at my feet, reaching out with one paw to touch me. Otherwise, he wants nothing to do with his granny. He truly is an unusually bright cat. I know all grandmas say that. But this is true! Look at this picture I snapped of him today. He literally stepped right over the bacon on the counter and started gobbling down the lettuce! I've never seen anything like it. Nutrition is top on his list of priorities! He loves his vegetables of all kinds! He certainly doesn't follow in his father's footsteps!

Next time I blog I hope to be at home. In the meantime, thank you Scott and Bethany for everything!

Merry Christmas!

Good news from heaven the angels bring,

Glad tidings to the earth they sing:

To us this day a child is given,

To crown us with the joy of heaven.

~Martin Luther

Christmas Eve

C hrist

H aving

R isen

I s

S till

T he

M iraculous

A nswer

S tipulating

E veryone's
V enture into
E ternity

Remember When?

Hey Family! Maybe these pictures will help us remember when we were hot and having the time of our lives not too long ago..... instead of butt-freezing cold and battling with the snow.....

Ahhhh! Sweet Mexico.....

My Dreams Are the Sun

See that golden hue

Burning in the west

My dreams are with that color

My dreams are the sun

The sun always sets

But never seems to rise

That sun carries my dreams

Slowly out of my reach

I watch it slide away

Leaving me behind

The color disappears

My dreams are with that sun

Whenever the sun sets

It rises in another place

A place blessed by that light

My dreams are hidden in that light

At my window seat

I watch the sun take it all away

My dreams are with the sun

My dreams are the sun

~Dawn Michelle

Narnia?

Take Our Snow Please

As out the window,

I look, more snow today,

have only one thing to say,

take our snow please.

Six week-ends straight,

snow, snow every where,

have only one thing to say,

take our snow please, today.

So much snow, so much cold,

snow in the streets, snow in the yard,

snow on the car, snow on my shoe,

have only one thing to say,

take our snow please, we don't know what to do.

Winter, oh winter please end,

all of this snow, we don't really want it,

snow falling, flakes dropping

have only one thing to say,

take our snow please, don't delay.

~ jim foulk