Stormy Christmas

Sadly, we were right; as predicted, the weather was bad yesterday morning when we awoke to get ready for church, and the forecast was for the blizzard to get worse as the day went on. If Susan's sister Cassie, her husband Nick, and their 10-month-old son Davis were going to make it onto the airplane for their flight back to SC this morning, they would have to leave yesterday morning and spend last night at Susan and Cassie's brother Jerrett's house in Mandan. So we skipped church, ate brunch, opened some Santa Claus gifts, posed for photos, and sent them on their way.

As it turned out, the drive--which usually takes just over an hour--took them about three hours due to reduced visibility! But they made it to Jerrett's safe and sound; and as of this morning, their flight today is delayed but not canceled. I'm sure they'll be glad to be home again and away from the uncertainty and inconvenience of Midwestern winter weather. But it was terrific to have them here this past week and to spend so much time with that cutie-patootie new nephew of ours, Davis!

Hillary, Suzanna, and Abigail with their cousin Davis

Nick and Cassie with Davis

Davis with a gift from Santa Claus, who found Davis at our house . . . but probably still left other gifts for him at his own house in SC.

Davis saying goodbye to Grandpa Gustafson

With all our guests gone by midmorning yesterday, our house was suddenly very quiet again, and we went into holiday relaxation mode. Our afternoon included a family nap on the bed in Susan and my bedroom! Then we opened the gifts from Santa Claus that he left in and near the girls' stockings by the fireplace upstairs. Then we migrated downstairs to open family gifts from beneath the Christmas tree in the family room. I lit a fire in the fireplace while Susan made homemade pizza, and we ate our supper in the living room. We played games and ate snacks at the coffee table while the fire died down. Then we all camped out for the night in Susan and my bedroom.

Hillary, Abigail, and Suzanna waited impatiently before the pile of gifts from Santa Claus.

Santa usually brings new pajamas as part of the girls' gifts (a tradition from Susan's own childhood days). This year: footie pajamas!

The girls pretended to sleep in order to model how their new pajamas work. Convincing.

This morning we peered out the windows and marveled at the snow drifts that had formed overnight against our neighbors' houses and along the side of our house and down our driveway. It's still blowing and snowing, so I'm not venturing out to shovel or snowblow just yet--let the blizzard stop before doing that, I say. Instead I tried out a new gift that Santa brought Susan and me: an espresso/cappuccino maker! He also brought us an espresso bean grinder, so I ground some beans and made us each a cappuccino. We don't have any flavored syrups at the moment, so they were just plain ol' cappuccinos--very bold coffees, I must say! Should give us both plenty of energy for . . . well, for doing whatever we happen to feel like doing. We're on vacation, so we don't plan on doing much, for a change. Merry Christmas to us! And merry Christmas to you, too!