Merry Christmas!

I hope your Christmas was full of wonderful memories, plenty of love and good times!
I miss Christmas already. It was a great day, not too long, not too short... just right.
Our Christmas started out with a bang, literally. We were awakened at about 1AM to a huge crashing sound that brought myself, Skylar and Ashlyn scrambling out of bed, and Kenny running up the stairs from his hobby room with our hearts thumping wildly to check out what caused that awful noise. We looked out the back doors to discover that our awning covering the back porch had fallen down from the weight of the record snowfall we've had and had pulled part of the eaves and soffett down with it. There was insulation flying around everywhere along with the huge snowflakes and it was difficult to see what exactly had happened for a few minutes. I think we were all stunned at what we were looking at and all I could do was laugh. One of those I cannot believe this is happening laughs, mixed with thankfulness that it wasn't our roof colapsing which is something we have been a bit stressed about. Of course Kenny didn't think it was funny.
As we turned to head back to bed, Skye and Ashlyn's faces lit up because they saw that Santa had arrived. That was a moment of pure joy for me because I rarely get to see their first reaction and that within itself made all the stress of the awning dissapate. It was hard to get back to bed then, but I insisted that we all try to get some rest.
(I need to mention that Kara and Nathan slept through this, I am not sure how, but it must be because they are teenagers. That's the only logical thing I can come up with. Heehee. They were sure surprised to look outside and see it in the morning.)

It was a long restless night and after several times of telling the girls to wait until 6AM, we finally dragged out of bed and started the morning. We had a wonderful time opening gifts and laughing and enjoying the reactions of Skye and Ashlyn. After our phone calls to family, Kenny and I went outside to assess the damage from the awning. We then decided that we needed to get up on the roof and start shoveling the snow off before something could happen there. I was scared at first, but once I got up there it was pretty amazing how much snow we had on the roof. It was up past my knees and the wind was blowing and it was cold. But I dug in and we laughed a lot. I accidentally dropped my shovel and was afraid to climb down the ladder because I was slipping on the roofing and was afraid that I was going to hurt my ankle on the way down. He told me to just slide off the roof and jump into the snow. I was so scared I started to cry, but realized I would have to get down at some point so I went for it scared as all get out. I was really not prepared for such a short slide off and easy drop into a huge pile of snow. I was up past my waist in just the fresh snow we had shoveled from that small section of roofing and I immediately cried out in joy. I am such a dork, but I was terrified. Right then and there I knew I would have to do that over and over again because it was so fun! Kenny's brother TJ showed up a few minutes later shortly followed by his brother Chris and we managed to clear the roof in a relatively short time. We brought our lab Angel up there with us and she was having a great time. Our great dane Charlie wanted up but he wouldn't let anyone help him so he just whimpered from below at Angel. We even let the girls up so they could slide off a few times into the snow. Might as well have fun with it and that's just what we did. They, like I, were scared at first but realized quickly how fun it was.
After we were done with that, I put the turkey in the oven and then took a short nap. Shoveling snow takes alot out of you and being exhauseted already didn't help things. A nap was nice and I woke up feeling a bit more human. Kenny's brother TJ and his family came over for dinner and we played a game of cards after. Once they wen't home Ashlyn and I snuggled and watched some TV and then it was off to bed.
It was one of the most memorable Christmases I can recall and one of the most fun. The day was perfect, not too long, not too short, but I was sad that the "spirit" of the day had to end and that when I woke up today it was "just another day". We could have moped and stressed about something that we had no control over, but instead we decided to let it be and just make the most of it. We had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it. It's a special day that comes once a year and I wanted to live it up. I am blessed to have such a loving husband, amazing children, wonderful extended family, a roof (in one piece) over my head and food on the table. The snow is beautiful and I have never had such a white Christmas and may never again. Spokane set a new record for the largest amount of December snowfall ever... so far we are at over 46" with more on the way tonight. It's pretty amazing to say the least.

It was a magnificent day and a memory I will carry in my heart forever.

I leave you with a few photos of the awning. All the other pics are on my other camera which doesn't hook up to our computer. Maybe Kara took some I can share later.
God Bless!