Winter is here!!

Boston was blanketed in probably close to two feet of snow over the weekend. Bryan spent half the weekend outside shoveling. I spent nearly the entire weekend indoors, either snuggling up next to the fireplace with Eden or having playdates with other little cutie pies. :) I came home Friday after lunch, and it was just starting to snow as I walked down our street from the bus stop. By evening we were snowed in. We had to cancel the church staff Christmas party we were hosting, and my Saturday morning Bible study meeting. But it was nice to have an unexpectedly free evening. We played some Wii with J&K and Bella. (Well, Nino played with Bella. And they didn't play Wii... since they don't have thumbs and all...)

Saturday Eden and I headed to Jeremy and Carol's to hang out with Carol and their son Soren, while the men went to help a friend of ours move (in the snow!). Soren is 10 months old and he's a ton of fun. He is constantly on the move, and he is learning to stand up all by himself! He'll be walking in just a few short weeks. I can't imagine Eden at that point yet. Soren and Eden love each other, though Eden tends to spend a lot of time trying to eat him. I think ever since she got that first kiss with Zek, she is lip crazy. :)

Sunday it snowed a lot more. We went to church and then hung out a little with Zek and his mommy Elisa at our place, then headed back to J&C's for their annual "Johnson"-Swedish Christmas dinner. YUMMY! We didn't know much about Swedish food, but they gave us a lesson! It was really great - pickled beets (homemade - which were actually pretty good!), St. Lucia rolls, meatballs and gravy, beans, cheese and crackers, potatoes, squash and cranberries, rice pudding, Carol's awesome raspberry oatmeal squares, glogg (the non-alcoholic version), and lots of other stuff which I'm sure I'm forgetting - but not because it wasn't delish. We met some new people and hung out with old friends, and it was great. Three babies rolling around on the floor was a lot to keep track of but it was really nice to be able to relax and know that people weren't freaking out about our kids, to have them there next to us joyfully playing with Soren's toys, but to still be engaged in adult conversation.

I think because I spent so much time over the weekend either home or in the car or otherwise indoors I didn't realize how much snow there was. Walking home from the bus stop yesterday the snow was piled next to the sidewalks anywhere from knee height to shoulder height. It was like trying to navigate a maze coming home, trying to avoid the sidewalks people didn't shovel after Sunday's snow (grr!) or didn't shovel at all (GRRRR!).

But it's a Winter Wonderland. And I LOVE it. And I am so glad we're not trying to fly out of it. :) I think staying here for Christmas was a really good idea for reasons we didn't really anticipate - one of my work friends tried to fly out on Friday and was stuck in Boston until Sunday. And they have a one-year-old. Hopefully this will clear up enough to avoid delays by next week - we're going home January 1. Though I won't complain if we get stuck in Dallas...