Hey, Dana, I was wondering...

What happens when you live in a town that sees minimal snowfall and finds itself in the middle of a "historic storm"?  Oh, well, you happen to have asked the perfect person! I live in just such a town.   I'd be happy to share with you exactly what happens.

*View from our front yard...beautiful!*

Church? Cancelled.  You are especially bummed about this because you were SO looking forward to the Christmas program and the way that it really gets you in the mood for Christmas. But when you live in a place that rarely gets snow that sticks, the town cannot justify dumping money into a snow plow/street clearing/salting program, so you're out of luck. And you happen to live at the bottom of a steep hill, so even if the rest of the ward had gone ahead you probably wouldn't have made it up the hill anyway.  Your husband will call it a "Christmas Miracle" :)

That solo your husband was supposed to sing in the Christmas Sacrament Program?  Postponed to next week.  You, however, got to hear him practice yesterday and you know that he's going to totally rock

Furnace? Busted, of course.  The one day you can't get out and you really need some heat. When you wake up it will be 60 degrees in your house, not the 68 you're used to

Gas Fireplace? Finally put to good use and heats the entire house.  You'll even have to turn it off halfway through the day because the house gets too hot.  You'll be very impressed with this rarely used and underappreciated household commodity

Space heater? You will only have one and you'll figure that two would be better for naps and bedtime so that your kids don't freeze and then you'll remember that your neighbors (who are currently in Chile and to whose house you have a key) have one so you'll venture over and in the process of looking for said heater you'll find a leak in their garage and water pooling up.  You'll tell your husband (who is working on the furnace) and he will leave his current project to investigate.  He'll find that the washer upstairs was the source.  You wanted to relax today, Tyler?  No day of rest for the smart fix-it husband.  That's what he gets for being so useful.  What a man.  You'll feel extra grateful for him on this particular day

Activities to keep the fam happy? Books, fun in the family room, hot chocolate in front of the fire to stay warm *"Mom, how about we start a fire and drink hot chocolate by the fire?  How 'bout that?!"* Sledding at the Lewis' will sound like a great idea when you're invited over, but then when your 2-year-old gets snow in his eyes while he's speeding down the hill he will complain and pretend to not like the entire experience. Your nice friend Dave Lewis will offer some goggles and your little man will then find the experience much more pleasant...at least for a little while longer

 

...and you can never go wrong with snowman building, or so you will think.

But then you'll tell your little boy who is cold and hungry that you aren't going inside until the snowman is built.  He'll complain, but once it is finally complete your little boy will loudly cheer and you'll think it's because he's finally caught the excitement of the snowman, but he'll ruin that thought by following his loud cheers with, "Now we can go inside!!!"

...of course you'll have to swig a little 'nog'.

 

"Mom, I have a egg nog mustache"..."Now I'll lick it off...mmm" 

Tomorrow?  You'll have to wait for your husband to call in the a.m. to see if the base where he works is closed.  While you would love for your husband to stay home, you will hope for the snow to start melting sometime during the day so that you can get parts to fix your darn furnace!