The day after

(disclaimer: I forgot to use "word" and copy and paste. Therefore, the pictures are off center, which, along with the word processor thing, seems to guarantee that I cannot put the writing where I want. This post, which started happily enough has now got me frustrated! ARGHHH)

Friends and family with 4-wheel drive. Without them I would not have been able to do Christmas with the family. I was picked up in Edmonds by my oldest child; the closer we got to his house, the more snow was hitting an already high snow total of 20." The roads were quite treacherous and State Patrol, tow trucks, and spin out into snow banks, were quite common on the interstate. The road leading to the house had not been plowed and was one lane wide. After several attempts we made it into the driveway, where Stoff had shoveled parking spots that morning.

The girls were adorable, of course. After the Entiat Grandma and Grandpa arrived they opened the Santa presents; they got just what they wanted. A Barbie doll for Schyler, and some musical blinking lights for Lilly.

The cats even got just what they wanted, and were soon reduced to rolling, drooling, stoned kitties.

The rest of the crowd arrived. (I wondered how it was possible that Kira and her family were able to get there in a two wheel drive pickup, and Morgan and Logan in her Miata!! When we headed back to the ferry it was easy to see. The snow plows had arrived shortly after Santa and Paradise Lake Road was plowed and sanded. )

The three girls were wonderful. Mimi had been up all night celebrating with her Daddy's family who celebrates at one minute after midnight. They adore each other and Uncle Morgan, just as he adores them.

As the day wore on, the girls got wilder, and no family event is complete without the pig pile on Uncle Jorge/Daddy.

I got home to be with the fur family and opened a present that had been sitting for over a year. It was my father's baby book. I had never seen it. It will be cherished.

In the hand of my Grandmother was written:

"Baby John's stocking was hung to the mantle shelf beside his brother's and his sister's stockings. By Christmas morning it was full. A silver spoon and fork from Grandmother and Aunti Ethel were in the foot and a Tom Tinker doll in the leg with its hands and arms sticking out over the top. On the Christmas tree were two strands of beads and a rubber Scotch Collie dog with a whistle in its back. He looked at the tree and smiled and was very happy."

-December 25, 1923 Dad's First Christmas

A perfect close, to a wonderful day.

G2