Holidays Day 11

I think most of my readership is related to Wichita Falls, but it bears blogging about our first White Christmas last year.  I was 29 years old and I had never experienced a true snow event on Christmas in the lovely North Texas town known as Wichita.  From now to eternity, Christmas 2009 will be the Christmas that almost wasn't.

Benton and I are both from Wichita Falls, but we didn't meet until college on New Years Eve 2001.  Our parents live about 5 miles apart from each other and we bounce back and forth between their houses when we go home to visit.  As wierd as it sounds, Benton usually stays with his parents and I usually stay with mine.  We decided after we got married that it was easier to sleep in our "own" beds at our "own" houses since our parents were so close together.

Last Christmas it took over an hour to get from one house to the other because there was a 6 inch layer of ice with 6+ inches of snow on top of it all over Wichita Falls.  I have never seen or driven in such treacherous conditions - when you live in an area that expects snow, there are sand/salt trucks and snow machines.  When you live in Wichita Falls, you get stuck in your house until the ice melts.  We got snowed in at my parents on Christmas Eve after the church Christmas Eve service was cancelled for the first time ever.  We got stuck at Benton's on Christmas Day, until my Uncle Mark drove in from Arlington in a 4-wheel drive suburban and moved me from the Brown's back to my house.

We honestly spent three days with only the Browns and the Applings.  By day 3 of the ice blizzard, we trekked out to the Luckert's for a fish fry and some left-right-center dice game. At least we were all safe and we got some quality family time.  I doubt we'll see anything like it in Wichita Falls for a long, long time.  Here is a picture of me pregnant in the snow and a picture of my dad and Benton before they went to dig our car out of the snow on Christmas Eve.