Home for the Holidays

We got off to a nail biting start and Christmas has been a wild ride.
To recap and finish the stories:

We were hit with an historic blizzard on Christmas Eve.

The city reportedly set a new record with a fourteen inch snowfall. 

We probably got about 7 - 8 inches.

You can see from the drifts how bad the wind was.

Pearl proved to be a true Samoyed.

Son, Daughter-in-Law and their dog, Martin, drove in from New York City, leaving at around noon on Wednesday. They made it to an hour from the house on Christmas Eve (would have been pulled into the drive around 4:00 p.m.), but the blizzard struck and they had to seek shelter an hour away at a Best Western.  It had no heat and snow blowing into the room. They sent pictures of themselves drinking beer and eating McDonalds from a sack.

Daughter Number One came from New York City by air. She was nearly here on Christmas Eve when they closed the airport and diverted her to Houston. Her cousin was darling enough to pick her up and whisk her home to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with his wife and two tykes. They fed her, gave her a warm home and shower, let her enjoy the holiday with the two babies, and then made sure she was at the airport bright and early Christmas morning to catch her flight home.

Her airline cancelled most of the flights. And messed up the bookings. Repeatedly. So she sat at the airport all Christmas Day waiting to see if her flight would actually arrive and, if so, actually take her to Oklahoma City. She all but resigned herself to simply returning to New York City after all that mess.

Meanwhile, Daughter Number Two and Son-In-Law also flew in from New York but had arrived on the 23rd, then drove to his parent’s home about an hour and a half away from mine. On Christmas Eve, they attempted to drive back to my house but were also caught in the blizzard. They tried for many hours to get through stalled and abandoned cars and wicked road conditions but ended up in a motel twelve miles from my home, with beer and convenience food for their Christmas Eve dinner. They sent a picture.
I’ll admit, Christmas Eve was pretty tough. However Christmas Day dawned bright and lovely.

The kids began trickling in that morning. By one o’clock, Son, Daughter-in-Law, Daughter Number Two and Son-In-Law were here. We had no clue if or when Daughter Number One would make it. We ate Christmas Dinner at my Sister-in-Law’s house and she made the kids feel welcome.

Happily, at 11:03 p.m., Christmas Day, Daughter Number One walked through my door. The Christmas stations had stopped playing Christmas music at 11:00 p.m. so we listened to music from the forties and opened our stockings. We “rebooted” Christmas and celebrated the morning of December 26th.  Daughter had brought a CD of Panamanian organ music by "Lucho."  My grandfather always played Lucho while we opened Christmas Gifts.  It was a glorious time.

After the storm passed, things were just beautiful.

Well, in truth, the storm, itself, was magnificent had I been in a heartframe to truly appreciate it.

The kids (and Husband) were too generous. Son and Daughter-in-Law gave me a Bird Cam that I can’t wait to set up (need to get batteries, this morning) and this darling tote made of gum wrappers:

I think you'd have to see the tote to really appreciate it.  It is adorable.

Daughter Number One gave me a super generous gift certificate to the local quilt store as well as a Dear Jane book I’ve been wanting for a long time.  I had wanted to take a class at the quilt shop and may use the certificate to do that.  It is a thrill to have a gift certificate from a place near HOME that I can actually use! (Heartfelt thanks, Husband, for turning our lives upside down to get me back home).

Daughter and Son-in-Law gave me a wall hanging kit they brought back from a trip to New Zealand, this summer. The fabric is stunning.

I'm in love with this particular fabric:

That is just a sampling of the many gifts I received but the best one, of course, was having my family around me during the holidays.

Happy Quilting,

Penny, Evelyn and Pearl