Snow and berries.

It was  Saturday, December 19th, and we were supposed to leave for New Hampshire for a very abnormal christmas with the Rooke family.  Then it started to snow.  Well, it started the night before and by 10am on Saturday, our porch looked like this...

And it was still coming down.  Obviously not leaving that day, or probably not the next either (Virginia really doesn't get this much snow very often so knowing how to clear it with its one plow is a baffling thing to say the least), we hunkered down until we lost power... for two days.

But decided to get out and make the most of it with a walk with the bears, who LOVED it.

These are snow berries.  Also currently known as Bailey Berries.  Her hair is so long that she collects snow on her back legs when she walks through it.  Sort of like frozen dreads.  Pretty hysterical if you're us and watching her awkwardly waddle her way down the trail but not so much if you're her and they take hours to melt or pull chunks of your hair off.

So there was tons of down time and wondering when we'd be able to turn the lights on, finish our load of laundry, or finish packing.  The snow didn't stop coming down for 36 hours and we ended up getting about 23 inches of it.  Didn't get out on Sunday either but had another nice stroll, this time with the sun.

Dave threw some ball.

And, of course, more bailey berries.  I think this is the one that took her hair off.

And I became an angel.  Keep your comments to yourselves, there, family.

We finally got dug out enough to leave on Monday morning.  Well, precariously.  Stay tuned for nephew Cody's first christmas and our lovely new years with friends in Richmond.

Here's to making the best memories of 2009 our worst in 2010.

Love you all.