White Weekend-Before-Christmas

This weekend we made our annual Christmas trek North to visit family.  In short, we had a fun, snowy weekend!  If you want all the details, read on:

This weekend was not much of anything we expected.  I saw the snowflakes on the weather report for Saturday but had absolutely no idea how much was expected.  Those little snowflakes changed our entire weekend.

The plan was to stay at my cousin Kelly’s Thursday night in Lynchburg and then head up to PA to stay with my mom’s best friend Friday night.  Her and her husband are empty nesters of 3 boys and none would be coming home for Christmas quite yet.  Saturday was supposed to be jam-packed with Christmas gatherings…breakfast with my Mom’s dad, lunch with my Dad’s entire family and dinner at my mom’s sister where we would stay the night and then head home Sunday.

Thursday went just as planned.   We made it to Lynchburg before Kelly and her husband got off work so we headed to the mall where I also coordinated a mini tweet-up (meeting of two or more friends on Twitter) with my friend Amanda (@aehamlin).  I felt like we already knew each other and it was a very easy and fun conversation!   Kelly and Brandon met us at the mall and we headed out to a restaurant downtown for dinner.  It was an old train station that used old pews and hymnal racks for their tables and condiment holders.  Great food with a great atmosphere.  After stopping at Brandon’s office we spent the rest of the evening and night at their house.  I have to say it was so, so nice.  Kelly and Brandon were fantastic hosts and I only wish we lived closer.

By Friday morning we were realizing just how bad the snowstorm was going to be so we headed out early and on a mission to get to our favorite restaurant D’Atri’s for the best cheesesteak sub ever.  We spent the afternoon in Cumberland, MD doing last minute Christmas shopping and stocking up on all the snow-appropriate clothing we all were lacking.  Gloves, hats, socks, boots, sweaters…our cart made us look like the visiting Southerners we were.

Friday evening we decided to also stop and see Dad’s mom Nana and Mom’s dad Pap in case we got snowed in.  Present exchanges took place as we were unsure whether we’d see them again.  That evening we made it to DeAnna and Mike’s and went to bed knowing we’d wake up to a white world!

The forecasters were all right and we woke up to at least 5″ of snow.  The kids were ecstatic and I have to admit I was too.  The only issue was all of our family gatherings were all in jeopardy.    By 7:30am our lunch one was canceled.  Mike took us in shifts to my grandfather’s house only a mile or two down the ry.oad for our breakfast.  Thanks to him, we were able to carry on that one as planned, albeit a little later.

My uncle and his family decided to drive out to Mike and DeAnna’s and we all spent the afternoon sledding, throwing snow (we couldn’t make snowballs) and drinking (real) hot chocolate.  I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in the snow in years.

We went back and forth about what to do about Saturday night.  But because the snow was still coming down and our vehicles (and it’s drivers)  just weren’t able to make it up there, we ended up cancelling.  We all were able to exchange presents though and we had to open ours with just the four of us.  Mike was able to get out and get us some pizza at the local restaurant in town.  It definitely wasn’t all the dinner goodies we had planned at my aunt’s but it was better than nothing and honestly, that was some good pizza!

Sunday when we got up Mom and Dad were going back and forth on whether to go home on our planned day.  Scott had found out he had the whole week off and we just weren’t in a hurry to struggle with the roads to get home.  We had heard of massive delays and wrecks on 81 and there was no sense in taking the risk.    We all ended up staying for the rest of the day.  We ended up just spending the day back in the snow, visiting DeAnna’s brother’s deer farm and ended the day with their church’s Christmas program.

While I really, really missed seeing my entire family, I have to say Mike and DeAnna’s was a great place to be snowed in.  They are fantastic people with a fantastic house.  All in all, a great weekend.

Lots of pictures have been posted on my Facebook acct if you’re interested.