Everything's Relative

Its been snowing all day! I think we're up to 8 or 9 inches on the ground, as I write this. In any other year, this would be huge news in Virginia. But this year, after years of Christmases and Winters of no snow, we have now had two 'major' snowstorms. The first making this most recent one kinda anti-climactic.

Back in December, just a week before Christmas, and over a 24 hour period, we got 25 inches! This storm just happened to fall on the weekend of our annual family Christmas party. The storm actually began on the night before the day of the party - and was, unusual in itself, correctly predicted by weathermen (national and local). Because of this, most of our usual guests opted out early, knowing that while they might be able to get to the party, they sure weren't going to be able to leave! The exception to this rule, of course, was my brother's family. My brother and his two sons took the weather as a personal challenge to their driving and survival skills. His poor daughters were destined to come along for the ride. While it took C'villians up to 5 hours to drive from town to their homes in southern Albemarle, it took my nephews 7 hours to drive from Virginia Beach to Charlottesville! The usual drive time for that route is around 3 hours. The next morning, Saturday, my brother and two nieces arrived after a 4 hour drive from Virginia Beach; I can only imagine how fast he plowed through the snow! One of my nieces was a nervous wreck after the drive!

In the photo above left, you can see one of my granddaughters wading out to the driveway. The yellow-orange glow in the snow is the tip of a 36" vintage plastic Christmas candle decoration! The photo upper-right was taken on Sunday, during the digging out process.

The Christmas party was still a success. Just our closest relatives, and they didn't mind staying until Monday when the roads became passable! We ate, drank, played games, built a snow-fort for the younger girls and had numerous snowball fights!

So, today's snowfall, as I said, is kinda anti-climactic. Only 8 inches. ONLY, we are saying to each other! Commerce didn't stop; people are still driving around and going shopping; and the kids are out playing and sledding. I guess its true, everything's relative.