A Ridiculously White Christmas

I don’t think anyone in eastern Nebraska will forget the Christmas blizzard of 2009 for awhile. This was a doozie - a snow event that lived up to childhood memories of how it “used” to snow in Nebraska.

The rain/ice started on the 23rd. It proceeded to cover every outside inch of everything in ice. On Christmas Eve the snow started in the early afternoon. It wasn’t done until the morning of the 27th.

Needless to say, this totally bungled up our Christmas plans. My mom was in town visiting from Missouri. I had taken the entire week off so we could have lots of holiday fun together – going to the movies, Christmas shopping, and general hanging out. On Christmas day we were all planning to head to Sterling to spend the day with Dennis’ folks. As it turned out, Dennis, Addie and I celebrated a very quiet Christmas day at our place, my mom was stuck in a hotel room by herself for 3 straight days, and we’ve yet to celebrate Christmas with Dennis’ family.

I love my family, and I’m a true homebody, but there is a profound difference between choosing to say home and being trapped at home praying we didn’t lose power or our sanity. I’m being a bit dramatic, but when our neighbor came and plowed out our driveway I wanted to climb into his tractor cab and kiss him.

So, I’m in mourning for the Christmas that wasn’t. No oodles of time with my mom. No Christmas Eve church services. No time with extended family. When I called my parents and could hear everyone’s voices in the background as they gathered for their Christmas dinner, I wanted to weep.

Still, I need to rejoice for the Christmas that was. We were abundantly blessed. Everyone was safe and sound (I personally know of someone whose son was killed on I-80 during the storm, and another who suffered a scary medical emergency during the blizzard – see Misty’s blog at left.). We could have been stranded on the side of the road or sleeping on the floor of the airport. What in the world did I have to gripe about?

It made me think about the virgin Mary. I’m sure her Christmas plans weren’t exactly what she had in mind!

This was a beautiful Christmas. Dennis kept our fire roaring. We had plenty of food and fun. We sledded. We skied. We built a snow man. It was a regular winter wonderland for goodness sake!

That being said, I’m still greatly anticipating the full-on family gathering. So what if it doesn’t’ happen until next year.

Santa

Christmastime is upon us. We’ve got the tree up, names exchanged, lists sent to “Santa Central” (a.k.a. emailed them to Grandpa Wes). Addie even got to speak personally with Santa last week. We were a little worried about this visit because she’s old enough to question the concept of Santa, and were afraid she’d just ask him directly.

Addie had been asking a lot of questions about Santa. The usual questions – “How does his sleigh fly?,” Why is there more than one Santa?,” “Why does he live in the North Pole?” and so on. Then came the more profound and difficult questions, “What happens to Santa when he dies?” and the doozie “Is Santa real?”

Even though we haven’t worked hard to perpetuate the (spoiler alert!) myth of Santa Clause, we certainly don’t want her to be the kid who ruins it for everyone else! When she asked me if Santa is real, I just asked her what she though. She said she didn’t think so. Yet, she hasn’t really surrendered the fun of Santa, which makes me very glad. Santa is fun, and I don’t want my kid to be deeply vested in reality and pure fact at the ripe old age of 4 ½.

So, yes, Adeline, there is a Santa Clause - in your heart and at the Gas n’ Shop (we saw him filling up his Nissan), and at the Mall, in the Star City Parade, and Uncle Zach’s Shriners Hall . . . and it’s all good.

Thankful

Another richly blessed Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we had the BEST time. We headed to Granny and Granddad’s in Cozad for the holiday. After a bright and sunny drive down I-80 we arrived Wednesday to help Granddad pack the rent honey given out to those who allow daddy to put bees on their property.

Dennis and Addie had never had the pleasure of filling honey bears, but we soon developed a rhythm and got over 30 boxes packed in an afternoon. Part of that was due to my dad’s ingenious “devices” he creates to make repetitive tasks simple and streamline. He developed a template for putting the cardboard boxes together, and rigged a contraption out of an old queen excluder and some boards that created a perfect slot for sliding the empty honey bear under the mouth of the honey tank just perfectly so it wouldn’t spill. It even had enough tension that it wiped the lip of the spout off so there were no drips when removing the full honey bear. It was fun to be in my dad’s warehouse, his world, for an afternoon. It was also just fun to work together as a family, with my family, doing the work I grew up helping my dad do. I was really impressed with Addie’s work skills. She not only dutifully stayed on task, but when her job was completed she anticipated what she should do next. I’ve worked with a lot of adults who don’t have that skill, so she made her granddad proud, “that little girl knows how to work,” which is the ultimate complement for my dad.

We had a small gathering by our standards, just 16 folks around the dining room table that Cynthia had richly prepared with candles, china, decorations and all around loveliness – and then the FOOD! Granny is a genius in the kitchen – turkey, ham, sweet potato soufflé, butter beans, biscuits, mashed tatters, gravy, two types of stuffing, fried okra, and so many pies (thanks for making my favorite, Granny - French silk). Yum.

We had the BEST weather, too. It was in the upper 60s the entire weekend. We spent as much time as possible outside. Dennis brought his GPS units from camp and we made up a small treasure hunt using GPS points. The best part of the day was taking Mamo outside for a “walk.” Daddy pushed her all around the acreage in her wheelchair, and she just loved it. We took her out to see the chickens, around Cynthia’s dormant, but still beautiful garden, while the great grandkids weaved in and out of her path. It was great.

Addie and Katherine played the entire weekend, and had so much fun. She and Kat are like sisters and love each other fiercely, but fight just as sisters too. They had a very wonderful time together, and Addie can’t wait until Christmas at Granny’s.

And the best part is we get to do it all again on Saturday at Dennis' family's Thanksgiving gathering. I'm pullin' for more French Silk pie . . .

Halloween is done, and I’m exhausted! We took in all the Halloween fun we possibly could last week by attending Halloween festivities at the Zoo on Wednesday, the Children’s Museum on Thursday, and Uncle Zach’s Shriners event on Friday. It was a ton of fun, and Addie had a different princess outfit for each of her engagements (thanks Anita & Granny!). Before Halloween even arrived we were up to our armpits in candy.

Then the BIG day arrived, and we had more fun in store. The Sheldon Art Museum was having a Dia de los Muertos celebration with dancing, music and crafts for the kids. Jill joined Addie and me at the museum, where we enjoyed the beautiful masks, altars and music.

Later we met up with cousins Carter and Elsa and friend Sidney for some trick or treat action at the mall. After that we headed over to a friend of Addie’s house for our very first “neighborhood” trick or treating experience. Cate and her parents invited us to come along with them through their beautiful neighborhood. It was a perfect fall night – just cool enough without being cold and a big, bright full moon.

Dennis and Addie headed home to bed after trick or treating ended, but I met up with Jill so we could go out on the town for a bit of our own Halloween fun. Jill is my go-to-girl for Halloween. We’ve celebrated together whenever we can, and it’s always a lot of fun. This time didn’t disappoint.

We headed downtown, and I’ve honestly never seen Lincoln so festive. There were people in costume lining O Street. I wish I’d gotten photos of my favorites, which were: 3 guys dressed as orange construction cones, Billy Blanks (the OxyClean guy), Julia Child, Richard Simmons (a girl), Hanna Montana ( a guy), Rosie the Riveter, an American Idol, Mozart – and I could go on and on. People got really into it.

After all that fun, the Pope’s are pooped! Thank goodness for the extra hour we got with the time change . . .

Welcome, William!

Addie has a brand new cousin! William Avery Taylor was born Oct. 17, which was just a tad ahead of schedule (just 4 days), but it sure made for a mad dash back to Cozad for the grandparents!

Anna’s mom had flown in to Omaha from Arkansas on the morning of 17th. My folks went to Omaha to pick her up and had David and Anna’s two children, Katherine and Devon, with them just incase Anna when into labor early. She wasn’t due until Tuesday, and had never delivered early, so no one ever imagined she’d go into labor that afternoon.

Addie and I got in on the excitement since we were hitching a ride out to Cozad to meet up with Dennis who was heading through Cozad on his way home from working in western Nebraska.

We were all enjoying our time together sailing down I-80, smooshed into the suburban, when around Grand Island, the cell phone rang. Anna was having “slight contractions,” and we were all still two hours away.

To make a long story short, we arrived in time – but not by much. When we pulled into David and Anna’s driveway, David was loading their truck, which was idling in the driveway.

Anna had a good labor, and William was born after about four hours. Anna is my hero.

William gave us a little scare. Doctors notice he had an irregular heartbeat, and Anna and David had to take him to Children’s Hospital in Omaha to have his heart checked out by specialist. Thankfully, everything checked out OK and Williams little special beating heart will do him no harm. Thanks be to God!

So, welcome, William! You came a little bit early, and with a little drama, but we’re all so glad you’re here!

Snow Blows

Well. Just like that fall is over and we’ve moved straight into winter. And I’m bitter. Fall is my favorite time of year. It’s time for being outside. Doing harvesty things – hay rack rides, pumpkin patch visits, planting mums, picking apples, camping, hiking, jumping in leaves. Not this year. We woke up Saturday morning with snow on the ground and still actively falling from the sky. What the WHAT!? Burrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!1

A Beautiful Day in Chicago

Let me first say that I love my girlfriends. They are a spontaneous, fun-loving group. When I emailed them waaaay back in March asking if they wanted to buy tickets to see U2 in Chicago (and BTW, I needed to know THAT DAY!) they all wrote back and said they were IN. So began our pilgrimage to see our favorite band exactly 17 years and one day from the day we saw them for the first time in Ames, IA.

In 1992 Kathryn, Megan and I participated in a lottery to get arm bands to line up to buy tickets to see U2 during their ZooTV tour. I don’t remember who actually got the best place in the line to purchase the tickets, but I’ll never forget walking back – no FLYING back – to Kathryn’s house with our tickets in hand.

Flash-forward 17 years and I’m happy to say we haven’t grown up a bit. Of course our little adventure to see a U2 show involved a few more details (husbands, children, jobs) but thanks to our wonderful husbands, children, jobs - and everyone else who helped make it possible (thank you grandma, grandpa, Uncle Zach and Aunt Stacy!!) – we all converged in downtown Chicago on Sept. 12 for what will be one of my most treasured girlfriend gathering memories.

Our time together was richly blessed. We all arrived safely. Met up effortlessly. The weather was perfect. The city was beautiful. And Chicago had a palatable buzz in the air because the BOYS were in TOWN! It was beyond cool.

After a crazy cab ride to a delectable lunch, a beautiful stroll back to our hotel along the Magnificent Mile and Grant Park, we hiked to Soldier Field. It was truly a pilgrimage. U2 fans of all ages were streaming towards the field, and everyone was friendly and excited about the show.

I was excited, but I didn’t have really high expectations. For me, the concert was about spending time with my girls. The last U2 concert was just OK, and I honestly thought it was because I’d grown up and moved on a bit. Well, as it turns out, I still have the heart of a 19 year old because when the show started I screamed, jumped up and down and swooned like a Jonas Brother’s fan.

What. A. Show. Seriously. It was magnificent. The stage was inspired, and really made the show for a stadium audience. The sound was amazing. And - much to my surprise – our seats were really quite good. We sat straight back from the stage, so our view was perfect and so was the sound. And the cute Irish opening band didn't hurt things a bit! : )

I’ll spare the details, but it was an out of body experience. Kathryn was there to pull me back down to earth as she’d reach over and put her arm around me and we’d sing out the lyrics to our favorite song together.

Kathryn and I have good U2 concert karma. Back to 1992 again, we decided that one viewing of ZooTV was NOT enough. So we bought some scalped tickets to see the show again in Kansas City. Long story short we ended up in the very first row of Arrowhead stadium (see pic at right) for what is still one of the most amazing nights of my life. Is that a little sad? I guess there’s nothing sad about doing something you love with the friends you love.

I wonder if anyone will be up for hitting the second leg of their 360 US tour . . .