The Snow Mystery

Sometimes when there is a winter storm in this area the schools will get called off, and when you look out the window and see a dusting of snow, you go "Huh, what snow?" Well, last night we drove home from the mountains of West Virginia in a snowstorm, and I am now convinced that my house is in a little bubble that is protected from snow. It snowed the entire way and the boys were getting so excited. They were convince they would arrive home to a winter wonderland. Going through Mooresville just north of here, there was a good 4 inches on the ground and it was still coming down hard. As we approached uptown Charlotte heading south, the snow lessened and there was maybe and inch or two. Once we got through uptown, the snow stopped and it was 32 degrees. When we excited the interstate, it was clear that there was to be no snow at our house. Talk about two very pissed off boys. The only saving grace was that they had spent the whole day skiing in the snow. Sometime during the night we got dusting of sleet, but our snow bubble remains a mystery.

We Three Ski (and one snowboards)

On Thursday we headed up to West Virgina to go skiing at Winterplace. This was the first time that either of the boys had been skiing. We had been planning to go the previous week, but a sudden string of 60 degree days delayed our trip. But the timing worked out perfectly for my Friday birthday. We stayed at what appeared to be a very nice place, The Resort at Glade Springs. I say appeared to be because we didn't get there until 10 p.m., even though my plan was to be there before 6. Not bitter, not bitter (I just keep repeating that to myself). Anyway, there was an indoor pool and spa, sauna, indoor basketball court, and a bowling alley. We were too late to enjoy any of these, but they all looked like they would have been fun (not bitter, not bitter). We got an early start on Friday, and were at the slopes just after they opened. Sam decided to try out snowboarding, and he got the hang of it right away. You never have to worry about Sam in these types of activities. He usually picks them up fairly quickly, and will just keep plugging away until he masters it. He wakeboards so that may have helped him some. According to Sam, snowboarding is easier than wakeboarding. Ryan, on the other hand, I was worried about. He very easily could have tried, fell once, and said "I'm cold, I don't like it and I want to go." And then he would have repeated that every 5 minutes for the rest of the day. BUT, this kid absolutely loved to ski. It was amazing, he just kept trying, run after run, until on his last run of the day he didn't fall one time. In his words, he "conquered" the mountain. I was so proud of him. We had purchased a snow tubing add-on, which was for two hours, but after about 30 minutes, both boys said they wanted to return to skiing. I think that when sledding is set up in lanes and you can't try to knock each other off, or double up or form a chain, it took some of the fun out. It was like structured sledding. On the drive home Ryan said it was his best day ever and Sam made the decision to make a ski trip and annual family trip. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Locked Out

Yesterday I locked us out of our house. I couldn't find my keys when it was time to go get the kids from school and just thought that I would use the keypad entrance to the garage to get in. What I didn't remember at that moment was that I had gone through the garage that morning when I took the kids to school and had, out of habit, locked the door from the garage into the house. Here's the thing - that door always stays unlocked. It is our backup entrance to the house. If we somehow lock ourselves out, you can always get in using the garage keypad. Now I realized that I had locked the door behind me about 20 seconds after I did it, but I was halfway up the stairs and told myself to remember that and unlock it when I got back downstairs. Didn't happen. Anyway, so we get home and can get into the garage, but not the house. Of course I didn't have my phone. I'm not a person who carries a phone everywhere, only in the car (and most of the time I'm lucky if I remember that). I had my ipod, but that wasn't helping. Ryan has a phone which is supposed to be kept in his bookbag at all times in case there is ever an emergency and I can't be there when school is out. Problem solved, right? We will just call Dad or Grandma to come let us in. WRONG, his "for emergency use only" phone was at Grandma's. Oh well, still my fault that the house is locked, a fact that Sam was only too happy to keep repeating when he finally rolled in about 20 minutes later. He also threw in that he had always thought that he should be given an emergency key. I chose to ignore him rather than choke him, but it took some restraint. Anyway none of our neighbors were home, but the girl next door would be home by 4, so I knew we could use her phone then. And I knew that my friend Darnell would eventually come home and be able to shelter us, so at the most we may have had to stay outside for two hours. Now understand that it was 60 degrees outside. The first warm day after like three weeks straight of freezing temps. The boys most likely would have been outside anyway, but you would not have known this by the complaining that ensued. For the past three days we have watched news footage of the devastation in Haiti and my children had the nerve to whine and complain longer and louder than any poor person stuck there. They received a lecture on appreciation and being grateful, etc. but by the way they looked at me I believe I must have sounded the way that adults do in the Peanuts cartoons. Waan Wa Waa. Anyway to wrap this up, all ended well when after practicing baseball with Ryan and street hockey with Sam, I decided to try some windows to see if by some miracle one was open, and low and behold the laundry room window was unlocked. Possibly since we moved in by the amount of dust that fell from the blinds when they were moved. So we shoved Sam through we were "saved" according to Ryan. They than ate like they had been lost at sea for weeks. It was 3:54. We normally get home around 3:00. Bit disturbing to know that I have had an unlocked access spot in my house for 10 years, but it came in handy yesterday.

Ever Evolving Traditions

Yesterday, as I was taking down the Christmas tree and boxing up all of the decorations, I was thinking of some of the Holiday traditions that our family has established and how some are ever evolving. Such as:

1. Before children, Scott and I would spend Christmas Day having lunch with his family and then we would go to my family for dinner. We even did this the first few years after we had Sam. We eventually put and end to all of this running around, and now have Scott's family over for Christmas Eve, and we go to my parent's Christmas afternoon. We had never really been Christmas Eve people. so this gives us an additional day to celebrate, and makes it exciting for the boys, since they get presents early. This brings me to #2.

2. In my family we didn't get Christmas presents from our parents. They might argue this point, but if we did, they were not clearly marked as such. Scott cannot remember if he did (you will see this as a reoccurring theme in this post). This year, however, my friends guilted me into thinking this was absurd, so we gave the kids gifts, which we allowed them to open Christmas Eve.

3. In a nod to my Italian heritage, I make either lasagna or baked ziti for the Christmas Eve dinner. I just can't do that whole seven fish thing.

4. In our house Santa does not bring wrapped gifts. I did not get wrapped Santa gifts, and Scott cannot remember if he did (see the theme). My friends also say this is crazy, but I have always preferred that Santa just put all of the gifts in individual piles for each boy, and I get to enjoy the look of overwhelming joy on their faces when they see all that has been left for them. However, for the past two years, the boys have gotten up before us and have gone downstairs just to check out whether Santa came or not. Then they go back to bed. Seriously, they go down, see what they got, and go back to bed, They don't touch anything, but it has taken away my joyful moment. So I think I may send Santa a quick e-mail asking that he wrap from now on.

5. This is the first year that my siblings and I have not exchanged gifts. A few years back we went to a name draw, but that got kind of tedious, as you were pretty much just buying items off of a list they gave you. Very impersonal. It was my suggestion that we not do it this year, and although I came off as the family cheapskate, I think that they were all happy in the end, whether they admit to it or not. Maybe next year we will do a Chinese auction or something just to put some fun into it.