We’re doing fine, maybe going a little stir crazy, but we’re okay. The ruts in our street are still too much for Gary to handle, so we’ll stay homebound for another day. I’d be bummed if I had to miss church Sunday morning. But maybe we should plan on bringing our shovel to church with us, just in case. 🙂

The sun came out today, so the driveway is bone dry. I walked up to the main street outside our neighborhood to assess the situation. If Geoff wanted to take the bus to work, he’d still have to hoof it through the snow, as the sidewalk has not been shoveled. We think it’s the responsibility of the HOA, so rest assured, I’ll be taking it up with them. I expect to be sending out letters or making phones calls to the city as well.

The only good thing that has come of this storm, is it seems to draw the neighbors together. We met and bonded with our neighbors next door. I brought them some of the cookies we baked (the cutouts).

So everyone don’t worry about us we’re fine. I’ll continue to add pictures to the Blizzard album on Shutterfly.

The backyard.

The backyard. You can barely see the BBQ.

From the upstairs window, looking down the street.

The front yard.

Yesterday’s pictures were taken about 3:30pm. These are from today at 11am. And the snow is still falling. The governor declared it’s a state of emergency. National Guard was trying to get people out of their cars on the freeway to shelters. But Geoff says it’s a storm in December, so there are no leaves on trees, no danger of power lines being knocked out by branches. We have power, we have food, we have warmth. We’re doing okay.

Our poor kids though. We’ll be talking about the Blizzard of ’06 for Christmas for years and years. 🙂

*Update*-pics of the blizzard are up on the Shutterfly album. See Geoff’s shovel work that took him 2 hours.

Thanks to Roland for this.

Here’s a picture of Keith Richards, as Jack Sparrow’s father.

The backyard.

The front yard.

Because I wanted to share this blizzard with you. Makes that trip to California next week look even better! Here’s what the weather website has to say:
Moderate to heavy snow will continue over the urban corridor through the early evening hours. Snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour are expected. North winds of 20 to 35 mph with gusts as high as 45 will cause extensive blowing and drifting snow especially east of I-25 with visbilities near zero at times. Travel will be nearly impossible and is not recommended.

We’re being hit with a winter storm. Started last night after we went to bed, and when the snow settles in a few days, we should have 24″ of snow, and a White Christmas.

So Elijah and I will be housebound the next few days. Makes me glad I took the opportunity to walk down main street Southlands yesterday. Despite the mild wind, it was nice to be out. I feel bad for Geoff who is going to have drive to work the next few days.

Not much going on this week. Just getting excited about Christmas. So is Elijah (see his blog for the funny video I took of him). He hasn’t tried to open any presents, but I have been looking at the shapes of them.

I am hoping to make it out shopping on the 26th. We have our eye on a Christmas decoration for next year, and I need to check out Hobby Lobby to find a stocking to make for the baby. If I get it early, I leave myself the whole year to complete it. I may not be able to sew, stitch, or quilt, but give me a felt stocking project, and it’s just my speed. It’s funny looking at Elijah’s stocking, I almost want to make a new stocking for me.

We’re trying to catch Christmas specials on tv, but some movies are far too butchered, and that’s no fun (for example, Scrooged). I may just have to actually buy Christmas DVDs. All I have is Merry Christmas Mr Bean, The Toy That Saved Christmas, and The Ref. We watched The Ref on the weekend, so I’ll close with that.

Gus: Caroline and Lloyd will get the coffee and deserts then we’ll be opening presents.
Connie Chasseur: We can’t open presents til midnight.
Gus: Why not?
Connie Chasseur: Because it’s not Christmas until midnight!
Gus: We’ll be changing the rules a little bit. We’re opening the presents now. Not later, now. Why? We’re adults, and we can open our presents WHENEVER WE WANT!

Next year, I’m starting my shopping early!

We did some great family stuff this weekend. Friday night we checked out Denver Zoolights for the second year. Elijah enjoyed it much more this time around (see his blog for more info). Yesterday we bought our ham for Christmas Day dinner. Today we went swimming and then came home and baked some Christmas cutouts.

Elijah ate some of Nana’s fruitcake, and seemed to enjoy it. He also had some cookies. Pictures of all our holiday activities (and Christmas Day pics eventually) are/will be viewable on the shutterfly website (link on the left).

One more week!

I got this from my mom, and I thought it was funny.

A Canadian Christmas…
A man in Newfoundland calls his son in Calgary two days before Christmas and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”

“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams.

“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Vancouver and tell her.”

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “No way they’re getting divorced!” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this.”

She calls Newfoundland immediately and screams at her father, “You are not getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get
there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there by tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing. DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay,” he says, “they’re coming for Christmas and paying their own way.”

He’s a very funny actor. I think I’m going to go watch While You Were Sleeping (he plays Sandra Bullock’s future father-in-law).