Winter Wonderland

The northwest is having a VERY white Christmas this year. Actually, it remains to be seen if this actually sticks around for Christmas day, but in our 8 1/2 years here, we have never had anywhere near this much snow during the holidays.

Some firsts for us out here include - the girls first entire week of school cancelled. This was fun and I loved sleeping in - but it has made getting last minute holiday preparations accomplished very tricky. Plus the girls missed all the fun holiday parties and activities that they normally do the last week before Christmas break.

First time we have accumulated over 10" of snow - in our experience here anyway.

First time chains have been required to drive in the Portland metro area. (since we can remember) The last two days we have kept the chains on the van at all times and actually feel pretty safe driving around with them on. We did a lot of driving around yesterday to finish Christmas prep and stock up on food (with the rest of the Portlanders). Everyone did this in the terrible weather yesterday because we were warned of an ice storm coming last night. Considering the terrible driving conditions and the crazy crowds trying to stock up before the ice storm (I almost couldn't find a shopping cart at Winco!) people were in good spirits and very friendly everywhere I went. For the most part, everyone is enjoying this holiday surprise.

Wahooo! We love it!

The girls are getting lots of use out of their winter coats - our other winter clothing supplies are pretty meager, however. The girls' golashes (sp?) aren't great for snow and we use gloves so seldom that Natalie and Angela don't even have any that fit them well. I think Angela's are actually baby gloves, but they stretch over her hands enough. (o: Luckily we found some new gloves at Fred Meyer on sale for $4 yesterday.

Though we have had to miss out on many Christmas parties, programs and other outings, we have had our own holiday fun. The girls had a 'sleepover' by the Christmas tree in the living room. They only got out of their sleeping bags about 42 times before finally falling asleep. Okay that is a little bit of an exaduration. (o: