Happy New Year...wish it started out better

A Merry Christmas it was indeed...we didn't get our new house, and the lottery numbers weren't ours, but we had a great Christmas. Up until a day before, we were told that we might have a white Christmas here in the mountains of Georgia. Well, it was cold, but until 2:00, nothing happened...then, standing by the front door talking to my best friend Kim, (my sister, not by birth), white stuff just started pelting on the ground...I thought, wow, the beginning of the white Christmas....well that lasted for 2 minutes, with Amber outside playing in it and taking her pictures with it. Then it stopped. Brian's girlfriend came over and they watched movies, we watched movies, and then Kendal had to go home. Then came the sleet...I went outside, in my pajamas, mittens, and a fleece jacket and Amber was bundled up like she lived in Alaska and was in a blizzard, and we threw sleetballs at each other...It sleeted for about 3 hours, nice white ground and car we had, so I guess the weatherman did get it right by default.


Then came New Years...Amber and I saw the Peach drop in the Atlanta Underground celebration, watched the end of the show we were watching about women serial killers and then went to bed. Then the cold came that night. Amber, Patrick, and I iced down the ramp leading to the house with water, and let me tell you something, when it first ices over, it's really, really slick. I ended up sliding down on my butt and then having the bucket of water that I was holding fall over, well after I fell and pulled it down after me, and run all over my pants. It was like a water ride at an amuzement park. I never saw those two kids laugh that hard at anything. I thought they were gonna fall down, they were laughing so hard!

Then yesterday, the 2nd, windy, with gusts to 45, wind chill in the -5 to 0 range and I'm driving Brian to his girlfriend's sisters house to pick her up for the day, seeing it was the last day of winter break. We went the 6 miles to McDonalds, which it overheated, so Amber, Brian, and I stayed there for about 45 minutes until I went outside to put water in the radiator....which was really interesting...take off the radiator cap and within 2 minutes it was slush and ice around the inside. We found out, after it overheated 6 miles from Brian's girlfriend's house, and we were stranded at a stranger's house, and power was out due to high winds, that the heater block either collapsed or broke, or whatever the terms are. Amber and I ended up at McDonald's again and 4 hours later we finally got the car home. Of course, it's dead, and we'll probably never be able to drive it again, but least it's home. Patrick stayed home today from school because we couldn't get him to the bus stop this morning without him freezing. It's a 20 minute walk and it was 10 degrees with a wind chill of 2, so I called the school and I kept him home. I'll just say it's going to be interesting when Amber has to go to work and I don't have a car...a 6 mile hike for her and me, and then walking back to pick her up. At least I'll get my exercize in!!!!

But we did have our first snowfall...a little less than 1/2 inch of powder, but it was great seeing it come down so hard...a little bit is still on the ground...and seeing yesterday the high was 27 and today the high is 32, we're doing good. Our holidays were great, our family is together, and our loved ones out there know that they are loved and they are all well.

So from us...Have a great new year and we hope all your dreams turn out well in this upcoming year. Now, all we have to worry about is Patrick's B-day...his sweet 16, on the 11th!