A White Christmas for 48 Hours

Growing up in Minnesota you never thought of NOT having a white Christmas but once we moved out to California the only time we have had snow for Christmas are the years we drive up to Oregon to celebrate the holidays with my dad. So I did get just a tad excited when I started hearing the weather reports last Wednesday that a cold snap was coming in that would deliver snow to lower elevations. The girls also heard about the possibility of snow and kept asking when it was coming. Friday afternoon it started to rain and we watched as the temperature started dropping. Paul and I had a Christmas party in our old neighborhood and when we started driving home we started seeing cars with snow on them and it wasn't long before we saw cars pulled to the side of the road because of the wintery slush. When we got home at midnight we had a couple inches of snow that blanketed our yard and I just had to wake the girls up to see it. They are still talking about the night that mommy woke them up to see the snow! It was just one of those moments in life that I hope to always remember as they were so giggly and excited.

The next morning their excitement for the snow was still very apparent as they came running into our room at 6am asking to go outside and play. Mom and dad did not see the joy in their excitement at this time since we had finally crawled into bed at 1:30 in the morning. Finally at 7 I got out of my bed to go pull out snow pants and find some kind of boots that would somewhat keep their feet dry. After working up a sweat putting two girls into winter gear they went out and played for a whole 10 minutes. It took me longer to dress them then they played so you are right when you guess that they were ushered back outside to burn off a little more energy. By the time they did come in the effects of getting up way to early were starting to show and the joy of a white Christmas was forgotten. Luckily we had a birthday party to attend otherwise naps may have been had by all very early in the day.

The snow is still visible in areas that don't see the sun and it is very pretty but after having to dress everyone in extra layers the last couple of days I can assure you that I am so glad that this is not our norm. It takes so much longer to dress everyone and it also means mom is picking up even more items when we come inside because for some reason the kids like the look of clothing and boots spread out among the mudroom floor better than the look of clothing hung on hooks. Paul still longs for the snow and cold of a Minnesota winter and I think to cure him of this I will have him take over the dressing and undressing of kids for the next couple of days. That should be enough to make him think twice about moving back to MN, or not!

The snow was a great diversion from the kids waiting for St. Nick to arrive! The girls learned about the tradition at school and as soon as they came home they put their shoes outside and continuously checked to see if St. Nick had come. We have nothing in the house to fill their shoes with so three days later their shoes are still sitting empty. I promise St. Nick will arrive before Santa, we just need to get to the store first!