"The Powers That Be"...heh. heh. I am sooo clever. lol
Anyway, I spent Christmas day with Reuben's family and it turned into an overnight adventure! :) Reuben came and got me Christmas morning at around 8 a.m. since it was so snowy out. He was supposed to pick me up at 7:30, but apparently he had to dig himself out of the valley. We headed back to his parents house in his subaru. The roads were pretty clear, except for the last mile or so, then it was not as cleared off by snow plows. We parked at the top of the driveway and walked down because his driveway is pretty long and it requires going over a one way at a time bridge.
We arrived at his parents house just in time for the presents! The kids were all lined up to be let into the living room to open thier stockings. It has been a long time since I have been around kids at Christmas! I had forgotten what that was like. After the kids were done with their stockings there was a short break and then it was on to the tree! :) ...Thinking back to my childhood we were pretty much always required to take turns opening presents...not so much at the Power house. lol. It was pretty crazy with 8 kids ranging from the ages of 9-17 grabbing and ripping open presents. :) It was pretty hilarious to watch. A couple presents got opened by the wrong person in the mayhem. lol. All the adults just stood back and watched, saving their own presents for after the craziness.
After we opened presents it was time for breakfast! Eggs, hashbrowns, and sausage. Yum. Reuben's parents got halfway through making it when the power went out! They had to finish making it outside on the camping stove. It was still good though. :)
The power was out for about 3 hours or so. While it was out the adults just sat around and talked, or watch the kids play with their new toys. One of Reuben's sisters, who is about 10ish I think, got a slinky. It was her favorite toy. She played with it for hours and hours. She made piles of books to have it travel down. She also got a toy laptop with educational stuff and games on it...but she mainly used it as a step for her slinky. lol. :)
The kids also got a wii for Christmas. So as soon as the power was back on Reuben was hooking it up for them. The next few hours was spent playing/watching the kids play wii. It was pretty fun. I slaughtered Reuben at bowling. :) heh heh.
At around 4:00 Reuben and I decided to attempt to get me home. It had snowed a little during the day...so we weren't sure of our chances. We hiked back to the car. During the day 2 other cars had parked near Reuben. He tried to make it out, but was sliding around quite a bit, so he decided to try to shovel the snow a bit. He shoveled for about an hour, but because of the 2 cars and the cliff leading to the river he finally just called it quits and we hiked back down to his parents. I didn't mind so much because I didn't have anything pressing back in Longview. I just wish I had brought extra clothes. :)
So we had a wonderful dinner with the Powers family. We had ham, potatoes, peas, and rolls. It was very good. The conversation was very educational. It started out with who had the flattest/biggest nose and digressed into discussion of milk coming out of various holes in the head. lol. Great fun for all. Just as dinner was coming to a close the power went off again. :)
This time it was dark, so the candles and lanterns had to be brought out. The kids entertained themselves with a few games while the adults talked. After a while Reuben and I helped guess for a pictionary game some of them were playing. At about 10:30, just as the lights came back on Reuben and I hiked down to his grandmas where I stayed the night.
I slept in a very comfortable cozy bed with an electric blanket. It was very nice. I borrowed some pjs from his grandma and was all set. :) It took me a while to fall asleep, but once I did I had a nice night. I woke up at about 9:30 then Reuben stopped by to make the hike back up to his parents house.
We had a nice breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. Only a few of the kids were awake. They were playing new computer games. It was pretty relaxing. I spent the rest of the day watching the kids play wii. I soon became the time police, ensuring that everyone got their turn. :) It was fun though. Wii is almost as fun to watch as it is to play. ...Reuben and his dad spent the day digging out Reuben's car and then his dad's car. Finally at about 7:00 this evening Reuben and I hiked back to the car and were able to make it onto the freshly snow-plowed road. However, Reuben discovered that one of his windshield wipers was missing--the drivers side! lol. So we drove into town with only one working windshiled wiper. We stopped at Shucks to get a new one once we got into Longview. lol.
Whew. What an adventure! Once I got back into town and turned on my phone my message chime went off for like 30 seconds. Apparently I was missed. Now that I have showered and have fresh clothes on I am sitting on my couch enjoying the peace and quite....I forgot that it could be this quiet. lol.
Even with all the craziness it was still a wonderful Christmas. I am glad that I got stuck there. It allowed for more time with Reuben and his family and definately makes a more interesting story....."Mom, are you seriously telling us your White Christmas story again??!"
I think by the end of it I was able to remember all of their names: Edik, Raya, Mirielle, Josh, Elianna, Hannah, Nakita, and Abby! lol. Yay!
