"Blizzard 2009": The View in Virginia

As the snow began to settle on Sunday, Tom took this picture of Katie. The snow in the cherry tree gives a hint of the amount of snow that fell. This side of the house gets a lot of sun, so the snow was already compacting.

While this was one heck of a snowstorm, the word "blizzard" seems a bit over the top. We had very little real wind, and few drifts.

On the night before the storm, the roads were crowded as masses made their way to grocery stores and gas stations. Parking lots were so crowded that cars waited in lines in the street, just to enter the parking lots.

We're usually fairly well stocked at home, and we managed to host neighbors, Rod and Deborah, for bean soup on the first night of the storm, and we had an early Christmas with Carl, Susan, and Andrew on Sunday. They just needed a little push up the hill (due to ice) on their way home. The weather for Christmas Day is a bit suspect: a wintry mix is expected for Friday morning.

While the stores may have missed our last trip to the mall, a quick inventory indicated we really did have enough gifts for the girls and each other. We completed our Christmas letters and mailed them on Monday. We ran the dryer over and over, with snow clothes cycling in and out. We made the pasta dough for our holiday traditions (more on that in another post), and had a grand time at home.