Feeling very smug about having all my Christmas shopping done early, I paid scant attention to the weather. Wednesday before Christmas I went to the feed store to ensure a plentiful supply of bagged feed for the animals, and to the local Wally World to get fresh produce for the turkey stuffing. After that I just went about my life in a normal manner. There was mention of snow, maybe colder temperatures, but nothing prepared us poor Oklahomans for blizzards and state-wide road closings! I know that those of you "from up North" find our alarm and snow-storm ineptitude laughable. But when you get 10' snowfalls and below 0F temperatures on a regular basis your local and State officials are prepared with veritable mountains of sand and salt, and hundreds of snow/ice defeating machines of Leviathan proportions. Here, because we deal with this rarely, we have a much lesser ability to cope when Mother Nature throws a tantrum.
So. As Christmas Eve dawned I smoked the Christmas Turkey and prepared the cranberry sauce and stuffing. The heavy rain we had in the morning had turned to sleet when we went out to feed the animals and ensure that they had adequate bedding. The temperature was dropping rapidly, but this is Oklahoma. Nothing ever lasts more than a couple of hours. Only when we turned on the 6 o'clock news did we see the full extent of the snow-storm. Oklahoma City had it's highest Christmas snowfall since they started recording this sort of thing in 1890. Everywhere there were white-outs, blizzards and impassable roads. The Governor declared a State of Emergency and ordered the National Guard out to help the sorely over-loaded emergency services with finding and rescuing those trapped in their vehicles. The travel advisory service had just one word of advice "Don't".
By Christmas morning we had only about 5-6 inches of snow laying on the ground, but the heavy winds that had blown Thursday and overnight had mounded up some drifts that came well up my thighs. Our local highway was closed as were almost all the interstates. Those that weren't officially closed were extremely icy and hazardous with abandoned vehicles scattered everywhere. I called Amanda and found that the major road leading to her house was closed so there was no way we could travel there. It was all very disappointing.
Ken and I hunkered down. We fed and watered the animals, then set up the new DVD player that was our gift to us. We listened to traditional Christmas music and I cooked a piece of ham. It was pleasant but it wasn't the same without the children's laughter, the traditional family games and being surrounded by the warmth that is family.
Despite the disappointment, we are very lucky. We have plenty of good food, a warm home, we can at least call our loved ones on the phone. Our animals are well-fed and safe from the storms. I know there are many out there right now who have none of these privileges and my heart goes out to them. I hope everyone reading this had a warm, wonderful Christmas in the company of those they loved and I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.
