Lots of things

It's been quite a while since an update. We've had a lot of things happen in the last month or so. We had a very nice and pretty calm Christmas. Whit's family came over on Christmas eve. I was a little bit stressed out about having to have food ready, but it actually turned out better than I had thought it would. The tamales were awesome. I ordered 3 doz tamales from a place in downtown Denver called La Popular. I remembered the place from when I had lived here in the mid-nineties. I had eaten their tamales one time and they had left a lasting impression on me. It was a good call to have them on Christmas Eve. I made pinto beans in a crock pot with milk and lots of cheddar cheese. I also made a box of Spanish rice, but added chopped tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice. Initially, I was going to make homemade Spanish rice, but it was just too much for me. I did make completely homemade gingerbread cookies and decorated them with frosting. I also made a gingerbread cake from a boxed mix. Which one do you think everyone loved? The box mix. The cookies took me way longer to make! So, that's why I'm going to use more box mixes.

One of my better choices for the Christmas Eve get together was having an activity for all of the kids. I know that Ella and her cousins would need to be occupied. A parent at my school had provided an activity for the kids in my class right before the holiday break. She made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and she gave the kids all of the candy and squirt frosting for decorating. Well, I copied her idea. I assembled the gingerbread houses from graham crackers, placed them on thick cardboard, and then put upside down sugar cones for trees. The kids spent about an hour decorating them at the Christmas Eve gathering. It allowed us (the grown-ups) to have adult conversation and wine.

We also enjoyed a Christmas Eve concert. Whit and his niece and nephew played several Christmas songs. Whit plays the trumpet, his niece plays the flute, and his nephew also plays the trumpet. It was really fun to watch. Whit acted sort of like a the band leader.

These are the only pictures that I took on Christmas eve. You can see the kids' gingerbread creations. Ella is holding hers.



Christmas morning was very low key. It was a little bit difficult for me because I've spent every Christmas morning with my family. It was just the three of us. It was nice not to have the marathon gift opening that usually occurs at my mom's house. There was one year when it literally took four hours straight. It didn't take us that long, but Ella did have a lot of gifts to work through.

I just have to make a remark about our tree. I saw some trees at the local Whole Foods right after Thanksgiving that were just beautiful. They were only $49.00 and most of them were 8 feet tall. I told Whit that we should get one, but we didn't make any decisions. I went to Whit's sister's house in early December and I commented on how beautiful her tree was. She told me that they got it at Whole Foods. That was it. We went the next weekend to Whole Foods and bought the healthiest, least expensive, largest tree that we've ever had. There were no dry needles and when we were putting our ornaments on it, hardly any needles dropped. The tree stayed gorgeous for the entire holiday time. I'm still amazed that the Whole Foods was our tree lot this year.

You can see the tree in the next few pics...lovely! Also, most of those gifts underneath are Ella's. Whit and I had like 6 gifts combined.



We took a walk on Christmas Day through our neighborhood. Our neighborhood has walking trails all throughout it. This particular trail leads to an open space. Ella received a lacrosse stick from Santa. She really wanted to try it out. Lacrosse is a really popular sport out here. I actually found the stick at Target. If her ballet classes don't work out for her, I want her to be a lacrosse player.


We had another big surprise during the holiday break, we found out that Whit's son would be moving in with us. Although we were open to the idea, it caught us by surprise. He moved in with us on Dec 30th. We hadn't had much snow to date, but our first snowstorm came in on the evening of his flight in. Additionally, the temps dropped. For about 3 days, we had daytime temps from 5-10 degrees and evening temps below zero. Fortunately, it was during the New Year holiday, so we didn't have to go out much. I did, however, have a waxing appointment the morning after the storm.

This was bad. I don't remember driving in the snow when I lived out here before. I think I didn't drive very much. I walked to campus and only worked part-time, three days a week. I didn't have to deal very much. BUT, it's different now. When I drove to my appointment the morning after the storm, the temp was about 4 degrees with only about 4 inches on the ground. I was bundled up, so the cold didn't bother me. I took Whit's car, which is an SUV, but it has no 4 wheel drive. I slid to a stop at every stop sign and my car fishtailed at every turn. It was pretty scary for me. The side roads weren't plowed and the main roads that were plowed were still ice packed. The saving grace was that there weren't very many cars on the road because it was New Year's Eve.

These pics are of our yard after the first significant snow.





Whit and Leigh had to finally break out the snow shovel that we bought in November and had yet to use it. The rule is that you have to shovel the sidewalk in front of your house, but most people also shovel their walkway and driveway, too.



About 10 days after the first snow, our second snow arrived. This time it was heavier (6 inches) and we had that "arctic blast" again. I wasn't as lucky this time because it came in on Sunday night. That meant that I had to drive to work in it the next morning with traffic. I also didn't have the opportunity to take Whit's heavier SUV because he was going to be taking it. The driving experience that I had was by far the worst driving ever. First of all, they don't plow side streets. So, our street had 6 inches of snowy ice on it. My wheels spun going out of the driveway and then again trying to get up our street. I almost gave up because I had only gone two houses at this point. I was certain that my car would get stuck. We have another small street outside of our street in order to get to the "main road." I made it down the second small street, but my car was fishtailing the whole way. Also, my tires spun at every stop sign. I was most concerned about the main road. It's basically a pretty big hill. My car almost rolled down backwards. I said a prayer and barely made it. I was trying to get my car going and it would only go about 5 MPH. It took me over an hour to get to work (normally it's 25 mins in traffic). The freeway was the best plowed part and most people were going about 10 MPH. I wasn't concerned there, but it's definitely the side streets that are the worst.

I'll have to get used to it. I definitely need a 4 wheel drive. We didn't have a need for one in CA. But, I wouldn't have had such a difficult time with wheels spinning if I had a car that used all four wheels. Obviously I 'll have to manage with my car for the rest of this season, but maybe next season.

5 days after the snowfall, we got outside to make our first snowman. The temps were in the upper 40s and it was perfect for packing that snow. When it's too cold, you can't pack the snow enough to make anything. I think it turned out pretty well.





I don't want to be a whiner, but I was really traumatized by my drive in the snow. The problem was that the temps were so low that the snow was just so icy. My coworkers have reassured me that usually it doesn't get that cold and the snow starts melting the next day. I don't like that the Denver area doesn't plow the side roads. That's ridiculous. I know that the highway is priority #1, but our street was practically undriveable. I survived, and I'm sure glad that this season has been the second driest on record (since the 1880s).

I'm not sure if anyone made it through the end of the post, but if you did, you're a trooper!