Days 147-151: With peace on earth and good will toward men.

Our holiday plans kind of fell apart thanks to the weather here which looks a little bit like this...

Jessica was supposed to come in from Chicago on Monday afternoon, but the snow kept on coming and coming and she got re-routed to Phoenix and then flown back to Chicago and wasn't able to get another flight to Portland until 9pm Christmas Day which kind of defeats the whole purpose.  JZ was able to get in but there is no way we'd be able to get down to Corvallis for celebrations with his family which was our original plan, so we surrendered to the universe, which has clearly won this round and called it all off.  Jess'll be spending Christmas in Chicago, JZ will enjoy his family, and John and I will be gathering other orphans of the storm at our place tomorrow.  Other folks who weren't able to make their flights out of town and are now at loose ends.  Should be fun, but we were really looking forward to having Jess here and spending the holiday with JZ and his awesome family.  We made this plan in the beer garden at Moody's on one of my last nights in Chicago, and to have it fall through after months of anticipation is making me sad.  Boo. 

However, I think we'll still have a good time.  We hiked through the snow down to the Safeway yesterday with backpacks to lay in supplies, and then made another expedition this morning, this time with a very cabin-fevered dog who needed to run off accumulated ya ya, to pick up the pies that John had ordered weeks ago.  Folks were out and about, digging out cars and tromping about on errands just like us, and we met several of our neighbors, everyone eager to stop and chat, to marvel about the white world we find ourselves in.  Punk romped and snorfled through snow drifts.  

Since then we've been cozied up in the house, making green bean casserole and sugar cookies, listening to carols and watching it go from snow to rain.  The neighborhood kids run back and forth down the streets and people zip by on their cross country skis.  The now tired dog snores and I miss the people I love, with one notable exception.  The guy sitting next to me.  And despite the craziness of the last few days, we're happy and warm and safe.  And lucky.  Very lucky.