now bring us a figgy January 01, 2009

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great holiday time. As you can see by this handy montage of pictures, we had a bunch of snow...

Gabe and I were in Portland for part of last week, (along with one of my sisters and her family), and Eugene (where my whole family gathered), for the rest. After a week of sporadic snow, Portland got blasted with a huge storm (the biggest here in my lifetime!) that dumped seventeen inches of the white stuff, and a lot of ice, just a few days before Christmas.

This storm made for such a mixed up holiday, where lots of sledding shenanigans and snowy drives of hilarity and terror ensued. Throw in the stomach flu, and you have Christmas Crazy Pants 2008. But despite all of the mix-ups, canceled plans, vomiting, and lack of present buying, I would have to say that it was one of the most special, meaningful, wonderful Christmas weeks that I can recall.

So, now..bare with me and my math brain. (Nerd alert!) I tried to quantify the joy, below.

Number of holiday movies watched?

7.45

It's A Wonderful Life, Scrooged, Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, Prancer and several made for tv holiday movies on Lifetime which are too embarrassing to recount..

Amount of chocolate eaten by me, and me alone?

239982384723984723987193847 lbs.

Roughly three thousand tons. Maybe more, if chocolate covered cherries are considered chocolate, which I think they are.

Number of Clementines consumed by me, and me alone?

57645358767697897

Let's just say that some think that my skin has a bit of an orangish tint to it now.

Total number of hours we spent inching along I-5 last week? (the freeway that runs from Eugene to Portland, normally a two hour drive)

16!!!! I did the math, truly it was 16.

Number of family members who had the stomach flu?

5, including yours truly.

Number of times sledded down the hill by my sister's house in the dead of night?

**??@@@@

The sum above is a number you get when you evade death, repeatedly.

Number of tiny snow forts created to put candles in?

15.

Number of over sized snowmen Gabe and I muscled together in the backyard?

ONE, ENORMOUS SNOW PERSON!!! Most definitely a giant.

Number of hugs and kisses from sisters and brothers and parents and husband and wee ones once we all managed to be together at last?

Many, many, many...but never enough!

Peace and health and high fives in the New Year, to you and your kin.