Christmas 2009 was definitely unique, and I doubt anyone wishing for a “White Christmas” was expecting this. On December 24, 2009, Oklahoma broke its all-time one day snow fall total with 14.1″ of the white stuff coming down. Combine that with sleet, ice, and 60 mph winds, and you end up with one big slippery, wintery mess.
By the time our traditional family Christmas Eve gathering was set to start, all major highways and turnpikes in Oklahoma (along with Will Rogers World Airport) were closed due to “Blizzard ’09”, as the media has already begun calling it. Shortly before they were closed there was a 50 car pile up out in Midwest City, and a 30 car pile up outside of Mustang. (The party has been rescheduled for tomorrow.)
I can personally attest as to how bad the roads were last night. After getting a little stir crazy, I decided to head out … only to get stuck at the end of my own driveway. Fortunately for me, an old high school friend with a 4×4 Jeep was out pulling cars out of ditches and swung by to rescue me from me. The truck made it back into the driveway, which is where it stayed for the duration of the storm.
The kids (being kids) loved the snow. I have snow drifts in my backyard as tall as Mason. Morgan doesn’t like playing in it as much as she likes eating it. I swear, that kid could live forever on a diet of beans and snow.
Christmas Eve was spent home along with the kids, which isn’t bad, just different. We did Christmas morning together as a family as well. After the snow began melting, dad made it over for some Christmas brunch. With a slightly different attack vector on the snow bank, I was able to get my own truck out of the driveway and we were able to swing by Mom’s for a while today too.
