It's Melting!

It first snowed here on December 13th, exactly two weeks ago. Today is the first day that it actually began to melt. I can start to see my neighbor's roof and our light bulbs on the rock wall in our yard. This has been absolutely incredible for all of us here... not only having more than four inches, but having it stick around for more than two weeks is just unheard of here.

Well, my aunt and uncle were snowed in on Christmas (they live a half-hour away to the east of us, toward the Cascade Mountains), but they let us come in my all-wheel drive Subaru to pick them up! So we stopped just outside their hilly road and they walked up and got in! So they came for Christmas, just like normal! I ended up greatly enjoying my very first very white Christmas. Not only was everything covered (I did a lot of shoveling when I woke up), but huge flakes were coming down as well. It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't have stepped in dog poop. LOL

We had our usual huge breakfast, which includes waffles from a waffle iron with strawberries, hash browns, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon (which I generally decline), link sausage, and my personal favorite, spam. Needless to say we were generally full for the rest of the day. There was a little bit of salmon dip that I enjoyed later on, but that was pretty much it.

I got a couple things I wanted, like that big Narnia pop-out book that has stuff from all seven books, sort of like an illustrated time-line through the series with large colored images from the books. It's a great one! You can make the Stone Table crack, Prince Rabadash wiggle as he's stuck on the wall, the Dawn Treader escape from the sea serpent, and they even have a mirror with a beard! Gosh, it's awesome! But I most enjoyed how much my siblings liked their presents. I was even the tiniest bit able to surprise my sister M, who is impossible to surprise.

And then without knowing about the details from chat last Saturday, my mom got me "A Christmas Story" on dvd! So we watched that Christmas evening after we had taken my aunt and uncle back to Monroe. I now understand the leg-lamp joke going around at work and I have a better appreciation for my Red Ryder BB rifle that I got in 1994. LOL

Yesterday I went out with my bro and my sis to Best Buy and Fred Meyer, where with Christmas money, I got a portable hard-drive for my photography class and a couple of movies that have been impossible to find: Miss Potter and Miss Pettigrew Live for a Day. The latter of which, I watched on the airplane going to China this summer. It's set in 1939 London - and it's very fun and well done. A surprisingly good period piece.

Before Christmas, I watched "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958) when I needed to relax, and I was impressed at how much of the book they squeezed into it! The actor who played Sidney Carton nailed the performance, I thought. And then last night, my brother and I and our parents watched "The Dark Knight" on his projector. I totally understand why my sister didn't care to watch it again. The Joker is... beyond disgusting. The bad guys are unrelentingly and shockingly evil - it's pretty repulsive to watch. I closed my eyes many times so I don't get nightmares or something. I do like Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman a lot, but I don't think I could handle watching this again. The ending is really good, but the bad guys are just... too bad. I loved Batman Begins back in 2005, but that was a very different movie.

I'm going to try and not feel depressed about watching that last night... :)

A good, childhood friend of mine - that is going to school in Florida - and that I haven't seen in a whole year - is coming over tonight for dinner and a sleep over! Very excited for that! But I don't think I'll make it onto chat... so for all of you out there tonight... Good night, and good luck!

Jp