White Christmas

We finally got thru the ice storm of 2008. Here in New England it was quite nasty albeit beautiful. The ice coating every branch and each blade of grass was a fantastically beautiful but the damage it left was devasting to so many people. Trees were bent over and many toppled and broken branches were everywhere. The worst was the death of a couple of people from carbon monoxide poisoning and one very sad gentleman that was on oxygen died when the he lost power and the battery backup finally gave out. He was found in his bed, dead, and the temperature in his apartment was 35 degrees. There were fires, trees that fell on houses, and live wires across roads. We were fortunate to have lost power for only 4 days. My man stayed home and manned the fireplace so no pipes would freeze and I took our little one and headed down to Connecticut to wait out the power outage at my brother's house. My son was amazingly good for an autistic child who'd never been to his uncle's house before and isn't use to travelling so far. One thing that kept his attention was the train pictures uncle has hanging on his walls. J. loves trains and of course the "Thomas" dvds he watched. We even took him to uncle's barber for a much needed haircut.
The temps zoomed up to around 50 by Monday afternoon and we headed home the next day. My man was really thrilled to finally be able to take a hot shower and have some "real" coffee. We were glad to be home to sleep in our own comfortable beds. (My brother has this very old sofa bed that will be chopped up when he finally buys a new home).
Now we can finally get ready for Christmas. The only drawback being that we are in the middle of a snowstorm that has left us with over a foot of snow and altho it should have stopped snowing late last night, it hasn't. And it's really cold outside.
Next week, weather experts tell us to expect another storm starting either Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Definitely a white Christmas. My CT. brother will be coming up on Christmas Eve and I have suggested to my NJ brother and sister-in-law that it may be better to come up on Christmas Day since they can only spend one nite. They have their birds to take care of and can't really leave them more than a night alone so if Friday is better to travel back home so be it.
I hope and pray that everyone has an awesome, safe, and warm Christmas. If you must travel, please take it slow. My Vegas kid sez that they got snow in Vegas (Yeah!! about 3 inches) but that people actually slowed way down on the highways. I think it was due to shock!
Anywho, take it easy and enjoy your holidays!
So says amma today.

Missing chapter

I was reminded the other day that although I finally posted to my blog, I left out an entire chapter! So without further adieu, here is "the missing chapter". The Saturday after Thanksgiving was my son's 4th birthday. Since he has autism and isn't really aware of what birthdays are, we celebrated with just a little fanfare. We got him a card, a small cake (he didn't know how to blow out the candle) and a book of his favorite character, Thomas the Tank Engine. This book was extra special since it was about Thomas' birthday. He really loved having us read it to him (several times) and he also ate some yummy chocolate cake. We have some difficulty getting him to eat a variety of foods so if he eats cake, so be it. (He does eat other stuff but rarely has "junk" food).
My Vegas kid told me she sent a small package to little J. for his birthday and we should get it soon. Well, the post being what it is, the package didn't arrive till the following Tuesday. First, there was a "sound" card which he loved. And then there was the peel and stick pictures of Thomas and Friends that sissy found in the home decorating department. Kind of like a wallpaper border. I put all the pictures up rather strategically so he wouldn't peel them off but the overall look of delight on his face said it all. Sissy always manages to get just the right gift. And I'm sure if he could talk he'd be saying thanks to Sissy for the really cool gift. Maybe I should get some glow in the dark stars for the ceiling that will both delight and put an end to leaving the light on after bedtime. For now, J. looks around his room when he wakes up each morning, just making sure his "friends" are still there.
Thanks, Sissy. I love you!
J.

So says Amma today.

T is for Turkey

Thanksgiving is finally over but as ours turned out, it was pretty good. My brothers and my sister in law were here to help eat glorious turkey and one bro makes excellent cookies and a pie. The sad part was that our mom passed away only a couple months ago and we all missed her. I was ready to call her the next day to tell her how well everything came out and stopped myself just a few feet of the phone. Then I realized that she probably already knows.
The highlight of this Thanksgiving was rather funny when my Vegas kid called the Saturday evening before to tell me she couldn't find "Bell's Seasoning", an essential part of making the stuffing. The next afternoon, Florida kid called with the same dilemma.
They tried every store they could think of. Vegas kid later told me that when she asked at one store, the clerk had no idea what it was. Needless to say, and $37 later, I sent them each a box via express mail. Poor Vegas kid ended up calling me frantic, that hers hadn't shown up yet. She finally looked it up online and decided to head over to the LV post office. She was informed that a notice was left but none was found. But she finally did get her "Bell's" and both kids made successful stuffing. The recipe has been used since before I was born so if you're gonna make it ya gotta make it right!!
Now we're into the Christmas buying mode. I've managed displaying a few decorations (the tree doesn't go up till the week before) and I've even bought a few things but I really hate to shop the malls so most of my buying will be online. I will stay safely indoors on the weekends until at least the end of January. Then I'll cash in some of those gift cards when the bargains are aplenty!!
So here's to all of you readers: I hope you're still enjoying some turkey and won't get to frustrated looking for a parking space at the mall.
Merry Christmas!!
So says Amma today.