This year was an unusual Christmas for our family because of the weather! First, we postponed the Christmas Eve gathering at my Aunt’s home in west Seattle because we didn’t want to travel on the slippery roads, and it was still snowing! We postponed it until Saturday, but the side roads were still not good enough, so that gathering is now not until January 17th because that is when everyone is available! However, we still went over to my parent’s house. We had Shaun open up the presents from us, so they could watch since Shaun doesn’t yet know what is really going on.
Christmas day, we slowly and carefully drove to my parent’s house. It was a blizzard outside, but we were not going to miss getting together with family on Christmas day. We slipped and slid there, without incident.
Then we had a mini scare. About half an hour after arriving, our SUV slid down their driveway into the garage door! We heard a bang, and everyone said, “What was that?” Everyone was scattered throughout the house because Dad & Renae had just come in from shoveling snow. I went and looked out the front window and our car was down next to the house! I said, “It’s our car, it’s our car!!!” I couldn’t seem to get out an intelligible phrase like, “Our car has slipped down the driveway and hit the house..” Everyone came running over, and there was a moment of panic, before Dad, Bill and Renae all rushed outside to “fix” it.
Luckily there was no damage that couldn’t be fixed. First they worked on getting the Explorer back up the driveway. Apparently the vehicle slid down on ice even though the emergency brake was on and we thought we had left it far enough at the top. We are guessing that the e-brake slowed the car down a lot, thankfully. After they finally got the car back up the driveway, after a lot of sanding and slipping, they worked on clearing a place on the street to park it! This involved putting chains on and a lot more shoveling! They were all running on adrenalin because we hadn’t even eaten our Christmas brunch yet, so no one had anything in their stomachs yet besides coffee. (And it was still a blizzard outside!)
The car bowed in the garage door, but the 3 of them were able to “unbow” it with all their strength, and it still works! While this was all going on, Mom and I determined that the other family should not come over today because it was too treacherous and slippery! So, we had a quiet day there with just the 6 of us again. We had our brunch (after reheating) and opened presents. We watched “Back to the Future”, a present Dad got, and went out sledding in their backyard. It was a lot of fun! We hadn’t been sledding down the backyard in probably 15 years. Usually there is not enough snow to sled. All 6 of us went sledding many times, even Shaun (on Dad’s lap of course!). Abby chased the sledder down the hill each time and she could keep up even though we would go fast!
So, the postponed Christmas day gathering happened today, Sunday with the rest of the family (My Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Cousin & Cousin law in addition to my sister and parents again!). Finally the weather has turned to rain, instead of the snow and cold we have had for the past 2 weeks!!
Here are some pictures of Shaun and his gifts! He is not spoiled, is he???
Christmas day, we slowly and carefully drove to my parent’s house. It was a blizzard outside, but we were not going to miss getting together with family on Christmas day. We slipped and slid there, without incident.
Then we had a mini scare. About half an hour after arriving, our SUV slid down their driveway into the garage door! We heard a bang, and everyone said, “What was that?” Everyone was scattered throughout the house because Dad & Renae had just come in from shoveling snow. I went and looked out the front window and our car was down next to the house! I said, “It’s our car, it’s our car!!!” I couldn’t seem to get out an intelligible phrase like, “Our car has slipped down the driveway and hit the house..” Everyone came running over, and there was a moment of panic, before Dad, Bill and Renae all rushed outside to “fix” it.
Luckily there was no damage that couldn’t be fixed. First they worked on getting the Explorer back up the driveway. Apparently the vehicle slid down on ice even though the emergency brake was on and we thought we had left it far enough at the top. We are guessing that the e-brake slowed the car down a lot, thankfully. After they finally got the car back up the driveway, after a lot of sanding and slipping, they worked on clearing a place on the street to park it! This involved putting chains on and a lot more shoveling! They were all running on adrenalin because we hadn’t even eaten our Christmas brunch yet, so no one had anything in their stomachs yet besides coffee. (And it was still a blizzard outside!)
The car bowed in the garage door, but the 3 of them were able to “unbow” it with all their strength, and it still works! While this was all going on, Mom and I determined that the other family should not come over today because it was too treacherous and slippery! So, we had a quiet day there with just the 6 of us again. We had our brunch (after reheating) and opened presents. We watched “Back to the Future”, a present Dad got, and went out sledding in their backyard. It was a lot of fun! We hadn’t been sledding down the backyard in probably 15 years. Usually there is not enough snow to sled. All 6 of us went sledding many times, even Shaun (on Dad’s lap of course!). Abby chased the sledder down the hill each time and she could keep up even though we would go fast!
So, the postponed Christmas day gathering happened today, Sunday with the rest of the family (My Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Cousin & Cousin law in addition to my sister and parents again!). Finally the weather has turned to rain, instead of the snow and cold we have had for the past 2 weeks!!
Here are some pictures of Shaun and his gifts! He is not spoiled, is he???
Learn & Groove Table from Mom & Dad
Race Car from Grandma & Grandpa .JPG)
Popper from Auntie
Baseball bat and ball from Grandpa & Grandma Hunter
Basketball Hoop from “Aunt” Jess & “Uncle” Albert
Hammer set from Great Grandma Nairn
Cube that plays lots of music and noise from Great Aunt Beth & Great Uncle Jon
2 comments:
What an adventure! And no, Shaun is not spoiled, but is lucky to have family members who provide him with plenty of opportunities for development and fun!
We recognize many of those toys Suzanne! Yikes, what a Christmas day to remember. I can't believe that happened, and no damage!
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