Christmas Eve Adventure!

It all started when Chris warned us on Christmas Eve, Eve that a snow storm was coming. We actually laughed at him. It's never as bad as the weathermen say, we scoffed. Christmas Eve we (my sister's family, my parents, & my little trio) were all planning on heading to my grandparents in Paul's Valley, OK. When we woke up to leave, we started to believe him a little more. It was cold and rainy here in Texas, and snow and ice were starting up in OK. We thought about not going but eventually decided to give the 2 1/2 hour trip up to OK a try. Scarlett was indifferent; she just wanted to sit in her new car!
Bundled up and cozy, off our little caravan went.
Once we crossed the border into OK, the weather just grew worse and worse. Freezing rain pelted the car, and the temperature dropped drastically to 28 degrees. The road became very slick. We saw wrecks here, we saw wrecks there. We almost turned around several times.
We were pretty close at this point, so we decided to only stay for an hour and then head back to Texas. When we arrived and ran from the car to the house, I realized just how bad it was! I could hardly walk, wind and freezing ice stung my face, and we could barely keep the front door from blowing away! Once inside we hurriedly opened presents, ate, and snapped a few family photos.




Meanwhile, ever the worriers, Chris and my grandpa watched the storm.
We headed back out into the storm, not really sure what to do. Should we stay in OK? What about Santa? Since we would be following my sister's family and would be driving away from the storm, we decided to brave it. Things were definitely getting worse, and I'm glad we left when we did.
We saw things we just don't see very often such as low, low, temperatures,
and Chris pumping gas in a blizzard!
I really was afraid to be on the road, so I just tried to ignore it all and read my book!
Scarlett wasn't worried one bit!
Chris got us home safe and sound. As we neared Texas, the driving conditions improved greatly. My parents, however, left my grandparents' a few hours after us to head to their house, toward the storm. They weren't so lucky. Once they got on the highway, they became stuck in traffic. A barrier in the median prevented them from turning around. They waited and waited. Minutes turned into hours. The blizzard worsened, and all OK highways were shut down. They were stuck there for EIGHT HOURS! We were horrified for them! Luckily they had plenty of gas and were able to wait it out in a warm truck. They made it home after midnight.

That night, safe and sound at home, Chris put together Scarlett's table and chairs, and we set out everything from Santa for Christmas morning. Whew! What a day!