Tag, Santa drama, and bitter cold.

Although I'm usually a party pooper when it comes to being tagged, I decided to follow through with this one. Lauren over at LiveLaughLove tagged me to talk about our Christmas Traditions.
This is our second married Christmas we've spent together and our seventh as a couple! Wow. Even though we've logged many holidays together we have yet to nail down actual traditions as a couple. After all, when one set of our parents live 8 hours away it always make the holidays a little more hectic. It's not like we get to stop by both parents' houses on Christmas day...we have some decisions to make, people!

This year we chose to stay in Milwaukee for Thanksgiving, Missouri for Christmas and then New Years back in Milwaukee for a belated Christmas celebration.

Also, we are continuing the 'yearly ornament' tradition that both of our mothers did for us as kids. They gave us one ornament per year of our lives and we now have an ornament for each year of marriage. Give us a few more years and our Christmas tree will look like ornaments puked all over the branches. But that puke will be full of memories so I'm all about it.

I'm bound and determined to send Christmas cards to our friends and family each year and so far so good. I freely admit to spending way too much time on the handmade ones from our first two years of marriage together and will definitely utilize some of the fabulous online stores in the future. At least I'm realistic, right?

In my family we ALWAYS opened all of our gifts on Christmas morning. This meant that my brother and I would wake up at the crack of dawn and bug my parents until they woke up. However, Nate's family opened most of their gifts on Christmas Eve which meant that he and his brother stayed up really late to enjoy the plethora of boyish toys they received as gifts. They also opened a few gifts specifically from 'Santa' on Christmas Day, so I guess they got the best of both worlds. Are you a Christmas Day or Christmas Eve gift opener? Such strong beliefs behind both choices, I know.

Which brings me to my question: did your parents let you believe in Santa?

Mine did not simply because they didn't want my brother and I to forget that Jesus is the reason for the season, not Santa. Also, my mom didn't want to lie to us about Santa only to see us get let down once we found out it was a hoax [I hope I'm not spoiling this for any of my readers out there:) ] You know, the whole honesty thing they teach kids these days.

Nate's parents did let the boys believe in Santa and sure enough, they turned out just fine. I realize it's harmless and most families let their kids dream of the big fat guy in red. But I'm just not sure I want to go that route with our future children. I certainly didn't miss it and still loved Christmas time with all my heart. Any thoughts on this one?


And finally, me and Mother Nature need to sit down and have a talk. This is just ridiculous. As if our foot of snow wasn't enough, it snowed AGAIN on Saturday night---another 2-4 inches or something. Whatever, no big deal. But then the crazy biyatch sent this our way:

Negative temperatures......not even counting the windchill? Seriously? I forgot that it could even be less than 0 degrees outside but thanks for the reminder M.N. [that's Mother Nature, in case you were wondering.] The wind is blowing so hard it's getting up to 40 mph at times and it's so freaking cold that it literally takes my breath away. The temperature gauge said -8 today when I drove to work and I actually had to chuckle at the sight. This was after I scraped both the outside and inside of my windows for almost 30 minutes. Did you know you might have to scrape the inside of your car when it gets this bad? It was news to me.

35 below zero is a horrible place to be--I know I mentioned that the 20s were rough but I retract that statement altogether. It was in the 20s on Friday, the day of our blizzard, and I was perfectly content to hang around outside and take pictures all day long. I yearn for the 20s again and if the weather is over 32 degrees in Missouri I vow to enjoy the warmth with outside runs. True story. I might even bring shorts and sunscreen:)


Did I mention that I'm excited to go home for the holidays? Tuesday night, baby. I cannot wait.

More of the same

I know you already saw a ridiculous amount of pictures from the blizzard but I just couldn't help myself. It's so cool!

Grand total at our place: 12 inches! Some places got up to 14 and of course, with drifting there are spots well over 2 feet. For instance our trash cans:

Now that people have plowed the sidewalks Henry can navigate a little better. Doesn't this look like he is walking inside the parted Red Sea?

My favorite little nose:

If they didn't snow blow around this fire hydrant it would definitely be totally covered. Our neighbor's house. I thought this was fab.

I became enthralled with the snow inside trees.

I measured 15.5 total in the same spot as last night, where there was only 4.

But in front of our house, after the snow blowing escapades, there was over 20 inches.

Instead of sledding we got a workout by shoveling. And then shoveling some more once the snow plows came through and added to our piles. Henry and his cold mommy.

Tell me he isn't the cutest.

We had to dig the dogs a path in which they may pee. This is Henry inspecting his new trail through the front yard, thoroughly confused.

Love this one.

Snow blowing and shoveling takes a lot out of a guy. But it will always beat studying his face off. Always.

Posing for a snowy family picture, Henry decided my snotty nose needed a cleaning.

There we go, much better. That is one large pile behind us...a perfect snowy backdrop for a day like today.

And now, two pictures that have solidified my decision to get a dSLR after the holidays. I have more than enough money in my J.Lorene fund and it's time that I take on yet another hobby, right? Surely I can find the time. I can't wait! More on that later.

These are not my pictures but were yanked from a local news website. If these pictures don't make you yearn for a snowy day then nothing will.

[by Paul Miller in Oostburg, WI]

[by Jose in Milwaukee]

So that's it folks. I know some of you are jealous and some of you feel distinctive pity for my poor soul. Overall, I'm coping well right now. In fact, I even drove to the gym and back today and thought to myself, "It's so freaking pretty when it snows like this."

The Julia from last winter would not have formulated that thought in her brain. I was still in shock adjusting to my new climate. Now...I think I can finally appreciate it for what it is: bitter cold, dreary, and never-ending but still pretty. I'd like to think I can find the beauty in a lot of nasty situations:)

Winter wonderland, indeed.

Did you notice I was missing? It's been 8 days since I posted which I'm sure is a new record for me. Let's just say that the holiday hustle and bustle is making me a crazy person and I have had zero desire to blog. Tis a shame, I know. But I am making an appearance today with one purpose: to show you our blizzard. What? You thought I would stop with the snow pictures? Bah.

Let me start by saying that I took off work today many weeks ago, and I picked a FABULOUS day to stay at home. Especially since the whole freaking city is shut down. Milwaukee Public Schools?! I didn't know they EVER closed! The highways? Their on and off ramps are even closed. It's pure chaos and I love it because I don't have to brave the blizzard. I do feel sorry for my co-workers today because hospitals never close, and therapy must go on. We don't get 'snow days' and if I were working today I would be in a hellified mood for sure. So everyone is lucky that I'm off today so Julia-the-biyatch can hibernate a while longer [for a few hours at least.]

Also, Nate took his last final of the semester yesterday. Do you know what THAT means, my friends? I got my husband back from his deep abyss of studying his face off. I was starting to get worried he'd never return and I'd be stuck with the shell of a man he became. I'd talk to him about his day and I would get that glassed over stare in return. Not good. I missed him! And now we get to play in this ridiculous snow together. More pictures to come, I'm sure.

So anyway, they've been predicting this blizzard for a few days now. It was supposed to start yesterday with the potential for 9-12 inches total.....2-3 inches coming down each hour. Last night before bed there was not a flake in the sky and I was feeling a bit skeptical. When I woke up this morning, this is what I saw:

Um, is that our patio furniture almost completely blanketed by snow? HOLLA! I grabbed the camera and volunteered to take Hank out for his first whiz of the day.

Last night I documented the depth of our snow at that point: a measly little 4 inches. Basically nothing, since a lot of our previous snow had melted.

This morning: 13 inches. And this is not in a drift zone and it is still coming down hard, my friends. We've easily gotten 10 inches so far and I can't wait to see how much more comes by the end of today.

Last night: our neighbor's stairs had a puny cover of snow on top.

And this morning: do you even see the stairs? Cause I don't.

Last night the patio table looked a lot like this:

And now you can't even see the chair legs. Ridiculous!!

Last night Henry could strut around our sidewalks without difficulty [except for the cursed leash getting in his way].

And this morning he had to hop around like a maniac to avoid becoming fully engulfed in the white stuff. He freaking LOVES it, you guys. It's so cute.

Again, our pathway last night:

And this morning: just a bunch of white.

So those are my comparison pictures. I think they give you an idea of the massive dumping of snow but nothing compares to physically walking around in the stuff. I mean, the snow is coming down sideways from the nasty winds and I was completely soaked when we came back inside. Can you see the foggy effect of the snow here?

Henry is losing his legs while hopping about.

Oh, and our cars? Yeah, they don't get the luxury of being in a garage so this is what we face today. Please note that my tires are nearly covered as well.

Hello, snow drift on the side of Lois' car!

I like how there is a shovel next to the car on this one. We've got some work to do when you can't even see the wheels of our cars.

The famous patio furniture, complete with the sad/lonely grill. Anyone want to BBQ today?!

This would be the side table without legs. This guy usually stands about a foot and a half off the ground, FYI.

Henry plus snowflakes equals snow dog!

He's in heaven, for reals.

My hard core snow boots [Uggs] are completely covered. And they are pretty freaking tall even for me.

I wanted to show you our outdoor decor but opening our front door was a challenge.

I like the snow in our garland with the lights, don't you?

Agh! My wreath! I mean it's pretty and all, but it better not disinegrate into nothing with all this snow!

So yeah, still weathering the conditions up here but as you can tell, I'm handling it much better on a day when I don't have to work. In fact, I think we might go sledding today---how fun is that?!

And because I know you care so much about my holiday plans: I work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday then we are headed 'down south' for Christmas Tuesday night. I cannot begin to describe my excitement to see my family and friends. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it [what, I'm allowed to be a little emotional aren't I?]. This means I might not be hanging in the blogosphere for awhile since I only have two days to pull my stuff together for our trip [eek!] but I will be back bearing tons of pictures from our Missouri festivities. Just a hint: there will be a heroic bridal shower to share, saying goodbye to a friend who will be overseas all of next year [sob!], presents, family time, and plenty of pictures with the dogs. Yep, it's going to be fab.

So freaking ready for this trip.

Now I'm off to pelt Nate with snowballs!