you guys. seriously. christmas was horrible.

Officially...Worst. Christmas. Ever.

Not in like the grand scheme of life but in the grand scheme of Christmases I have experienced in my 30 plus years of Chritmases, this one... JAYSUS. 

Mostly, I slept through the 48 hours that made us Christmas Eve and Christmas day, shivering crazily beneath piles of various blankets until it was time for my next dose of medicine to make me sweat it all out, gulp down some purple Gatorade and start the process all over again.  (Mostly hovering in the 100-1 range but topping the charts at 102 sometime in the wee hours of Christmas morning - who even gets a fever that high as an adult?  Maybe people do?)

I really thought Christmas and I had a truce going on in 2012.  I was a good little holiday girl - sent out the cards on time, had a lovely little cookie (&wine) party, made the neighbors little gifts, PUT UP A TREE.  (And, to be clear, enjoyed it all.)  I EVEN thought for a minute I might be swayed to be on Team Christmas as an adult after all...until THESE SHENANIGANS.   

Look, I'm not trying to BE DRAMATIC (clearly I am; no one has ever been sick before) but I think I was awake (like out of bed) three times Christmas Eve and day.

I attempted church Christmas Eve. (Fail; was back in bed within the hour.)  I also attempted to watch Nate (and Nora of course) open Santa gifts Christmas morning.  I am not going to lie to you here (sorry kids!) - I don't really remember this.  I know Karl dressed me in heavy blankets and planted me on the couch and that Nate was really, really excited but that's all I got.  (In case you were curious,  he received an Aaron Rodgers Packers jersey.)  My last words croaked as Karl hustled the kids out the door at 8 a.m. Christmas morning to go to his moms.  "Take some pictures."  Here's what I got.

(Right.  You are seeing NO pictures there.)

His dad came over later.  I slept.  Here are the pictures from that:

(Right.  Same same.  Nate got a scooter! I think.) 

Around 5 p.m.  Snow and sleet and ice are all happening, mostly with the ice.  Please remember this is technically a Southern blog and the South = unequipped to handle significant ice or snowfall (fact).  Our power went out we all panicked (read: I roused myself to put on pajama pants and tennis shoes and a snow hat!) and headed over to Karl's mom's house for lights! food! warmth! more christmas! (or, more sleep if you were in my situation).    One hour later her power went out.  Our neighbor texted - our street/house had been restored.  (He also unplugged our failed Christmas crockpot dinner and fed our dogs - thank you neighbors!)  Unfortunately, K's mom lives down some pretty steep roads and it was solidly sleeting/icing (apparently you could hear the trees snapping all night long - I slept through all that nonsense) so Karl decided it would be safer to stay.

We did not realize we would not be able to get out.   We had no milk and one diaper (PREPARED!) and they received an estimated power restoration time frame of 7 to 10 days.  

Day after XMAS:

I'm alive.  These tree branches, not so much:

Street to the left  (Apparently there was a firetruck trapped sideways somewhere behind these trees): 

Street to the right:

While he may NOT remember to take any photos of YOUR BABIES AT CHRISTMAS, Karl is kind of stellar in a crisis situation (deliver your babies unassisted, get you home safely in a blizzard - BACK OFF in the case of the zombie apocalypse please and thank you.)  

He hoofed it up this hill alone and found a random stranger (now friend?) to drive him to our house (they also dropped several other new friends off at various places).  He got our truck, parked it at the top of the neighborhood and we all hoofed it out in our pajamas.  (Ok FINE I was the only one in pajamas; Karl was in appropriate snow pants and boots.)   First trip - me and the kids; second trip - inlaws and their dog, sister-in-law and her 7 year old. 

We all squeezed in to our teensy, cozy house, ate a meal and crashed - well, Nate and I crashed down the street at our neighbors house.  (Due to the number of people to beds ratio in the house.)   Today,  we got sister-in-law's car out and the inlaws scored a hotel room for a few nights, so it's just us snuggled up warm and feeling thankful to be with power. 

And, honestly, even though it kind of sucked (Let's face it - sleeping through Christmas when your kids enjoy it most?  That kind of blows.) - in retrospect, I can't complain.  My fever is gone, everyone is safe and my kids are warm.   There are still 1,000s of people without power in Central AR (with crews working day and night to restore since Christmas day) so, if you are in AR and know someone who is cold, invite them over or bring them some warm food.  (If you are cold and reading this, this is your invite: COME OVER.)

Oh, and don't worry, I DID leave my sick bed long enough to iphoto shoot the children in the snow.  Images to follow... it's not every day we get snow MUCH LESS A WHOLE FOOT OF IT!   Nora's first snow!  Snow people all around!

That turned out much more lovey dovey than I intended.  Guess there is still some Nyquil pumping through this blood after all! ;)