Holiday "Fun"

A belated documentation of our first holiday season:

To start, I was on call at Christmas for the first time, first Christmas away from home, first in our new house, first as a married couple. Lots of first and no hint of normalcy.

Secondly, it SNOWED. Not just snowed, BLIZZARDED. I'm not kidding, 12 inches of blowing, drifting, freezing snow. People getting stuck in drifts, on the highway, stranded on the side of the road on Christmas Eve. Scott spent Christmas Eve afternoon pulling people out of the snow with the tractor, making sure calves didn't freeze, and trying not to freeze himself. I spent the afternoon alone at the house and then went to the clinic to take care of 25 boarders and one sick cow. I had to pour hot water on the cow barn door to unfreeze it enough to open it. And then the cow ended up going the wrong direction and holed up by the hay.

Christmas Day was not fun. The clouds had cleared and it was gorgeous outside- pristine white fields, perfectly peaceful, and not a soul in sight, except for us. We were outside busily feeding calves, milking cowsm, pulling the milk truck down the road, walking dogs, and carting grandparents back and forth in my pickup (the only 4WD that wasn't stuck in the mud or the garage). Scott and I slip-slided to town to walk dogs, and then he went back to the dairy. We didn't get to Suzan's to eat Christmas dinner until 2 and, of course, I got called out just about the time I went to fill my plate. I got done just in time to walk dogs while everybody else worked at the dairy. We met up at Gran'ma and Granddad's for supper and finally opened presents around 9 that evening. Then we went to Kenton and Suzan's and opened presents there around 10. Then we went home and opened presents from each other. Scott loved his wallet, I loved my watch, Pepper LOVED his cow. Small successes.

The next day we tried to dig out of the snow and drive to Lamesa to celebrate with my side of the family. There was ice and snow all the way to Tahoka and Scott wouldn't let me drive, so it was a loooonnngggg trip. We got to stay a few days, so that was nice, and then I had the day off when we got back and then New Year's Eve at the church. Scott had to get up and help milk for nearly two weeks after the blizzard to help with the muddy cows, so we didn't see each other and when we did we were exhausted- life wasn't fun for a while.

And that's the story of our first Christmas--- memorable, to say the least. Here's hoping next year will be better....