Saint Stephen Will Remain, All He’s Lost He Shall Regain

Well, faithful readers, I hope you all had a happy holiday this year. We here in Colorado certainly had an xmas to remember. As you may have heard, we got a bit of snow last week. It started out tame enough. They predicted a bunch of snow on Tuesday but none came. They said we would get it early Wednesday morning, but when I woke up super early to deal with the traffic, none had come. By the time I was done showering flurries had started to fall, but that was about it. My drive was uneventful and it seemed like it was going to be another false warning. However, very shortly after I got into work it started coming down. I mean REALLY coming down. The wind was blowing like crazy. Schools were closing. Our delivery trucks were turning around and coming back. They closed down our Denver branch at noon.

I, of course, had no fear of high winds, blizzard conditions, or a 50-mile commute back home since I drive the ultimate winter driving machine, the Kia Rio. However, everyone else apparently was having difficulty because it took me almost four hours to get home. I spent at least the first hour and a half of that just trying to get five miles away from my work. Eventually once I cleared Denver things improved, but it was still one of the worst winter drives I ever had to endure and I used to live in Minnesota, the land of bad winter driving (or all year driving, for that matter).

I am honestly amazed I made it home. The interstate was lined with vehicles much more conducive to rough driving than mine lying in ditches or run up in drifts. I feared that I would run my little white sedan right off the road, get lost in a snow bank and no one would find me until spring. My wife said to make it as close to home as I could and she would try to come rescue me in the 4-wheel drive. Luckily she didn't have to and I amazingly made it home safe and sound.

The next day the national weather service reported that Fort Collins got an average of 23 inches of accumulation (58.4 centimeters for those of you who think metric). With the wind as crazy as it was, we ended up with drifts in our back yard higher than our 6-foot fence. Thursday was actually kind of fun because the whole town was snowed in. The state literally shut down and all of the interstates in all directions were closed. I feel bad for all of the travelers and those people stuck at the airport for days, but once I finally got home I enjoyed it. The branch stayed closed on Thursday, so when the snow stopped, I went outside and helped dig out the neighborhood while the girls played.


My wife was thrilled that a white Christmas was virtually guaranteed, and I definitely wasn't complaining about the well-timed extra days off work, but I can't say that the holiday went off without a hitch. We haven't had mail service since the day of the blizzard (even though the roads were plenty fine for travel by Saturday morning), so not only did our packages not get out but we didn't get any in, either. Luckily we already had the Santa gifts for the girls or there would have been a lot of explaining to do for sure.

The funniest twist on the no-mail-delivery thing involved our xmas dinner. You see, as tradition, my grandparents used to send all of the families good honey-baked hams to eat on xmas. One of the last things my grandfather did before passing away last month was order the hams for everyone. We even discussed it the last time I spoke with him. We had counted on that ham coming in time for the big meal. My parents had received theirs but ours never came. Then the blizzard hit and no mail came. We had all of the fixin's for side dishes, but no main course. So, we cracked open the freezer to see what we could make. Well... we have the ingredients for meat loaf... And that is what we had: Christmas Meatloaf. I guess we'll see next year if a new tradition is born.

All in all it was a great xmas, regardless of the late packages. We got some unexpected extra time to spend with our friends and family and that was more than gift enough in replacement. We did a lot of baking, playing in the snow and other fun holiday things with the girls, and we visited with friends on both Saturday and Sunday nights. I also witnessed a true xmas miracle as the Denver Broncos defeated the Cincinnati Bengals thanks to a bad snap in the final seconds of the game. Merry xmas indeed.

I hope you all had a great holiday as well. I am now going ride out the next few days of work until Friday, which I am taking off as a vacation day. I had saved an "emergency" day but never needed it so I am taking it now to end the year. That is, of course, depending on when the xmas packages finally arrive. I just may be taking off for another round of xmas...