Arrival in a Much Colder Land

It is completely amazing that I can remain in the same state, travel 600 miles, and go from 75 degree weather to 32 degrees. My boys were watching the thermometer drop in the car, yelling, "Hey Mom, is it gonna snow? Huh, Mom, huh? Is it, Mom, is it?"

My husband, my sister and I ran out to Target to get a couple last minute items around lunch time today. Actually, it is tradition in this household for the kids to receive a Christmas ornament on Christmas Eve that they can hang on the tree before they go to bed, and then when they get to be of age to move out of the house and start their own Christmas traditions, they'll have Christmas ornaments to go with them. Well... you know how inevitably you forget something when you travel? For instance, my sister forgot her coat, which I can't imagine since she frickin' lives in ice cold Georgia. My forgotten items... the Christmas ornaments for the kids. I bought them in July, from an American I met who lives in Australia and had set up a booth at a meeting I attended. Yeah, well a lot of good that did me as those Koala Bear Star ornaments are sitting on the top shelf of my closet. That is how we ended up at Target, the big "Oh Sh**, I forgot the frickin' ornaments!" (I actually got the replacements at Hallmark and am very happy. I got them ornaments depicting soldiers from every branch, which is fitting since we are at war.)

OK, so where am I going with this? My spouse decides we need gas, which is cheap as all get out here, btw at $1.69 a gallon, and as we pull up I'm yelling, 'Snow! We have snow flurries!' and my sister and husband are ganging up on me, like they always do (Meh! They read my blog!) and saying that it was rain and not snow flurries.

I quickly grab my cell to call my Mom so she can send my boys out and my husband is saying, "Look, it is not snow. Snow does not go 'tink' 'tink' 'tink' on a windshield. Snow goes like whooo, whooo whooo (he is making breathing noises)." I get my Mom on and I say, "Mom! Take the boys out, there are snow flurries!" and my husband is yelling from the back to the negative and I'm saying to her, "Ignore him! He has sound issues!". I get off the phone... and my sister verifies what I see! I'm so excited! My boys have never seen snow! But then... we realize... it is not snow.... it is... hail. Small bits of hail, hence the tink tink tink. :(

So I had to call her back and tell her not to bundle them up, it was only hail.

We are hoping for snow flurries tomorrow.