We went to Highland Mall on Monday so that Maddy could visit the "mall Santa". He was a right jolly old elf and I laughed when I saw him, inspite of myself and he shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly…Well, not really. But Maddy really liked the experience. When asked what she wanted for Christmas, Maddy promplty said, "A Hippopotamus", then when questioned she said, "and lots of presents and a horse." Big dreams. We had just listened to the song, "I want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" before going in. If you would also like to listen, I have a copy here. I also figure I will include our "Chirstmas Card" on this post. I have sent it out to some, mostly through e-mail.
Well, we also got the obligatory "Santa photo", so I’ve included it here. Cheers all!
Nearly every year we have one "wintery" storm. Whether it is an evening of snow flurries or an ice storm the city shuts down for a couple days. Well, Wednesday we had our ice storm. It started when temperatures steadily dropped from 37, our high at 6:00a to the mid 20s. It was a bear to drive in, if only because no one in this town is experienced in the ways. I passed a pickup truck who was fishtailing because we were driving on a sheet of ice. I was in our Saturn and just kept chugging along at 10mph. He wasn’t in distress so there was no way I was coming to a stop to wait on him to get around the corner.
The storm lasted most of the night. Alisha made a wonderful fire in the fireplace and we watched movies all night long. In the morning it took me half an hour to get to the interstate (normally a 5 min drive). Once there, Alisha called me to say that UT was closed. Oh well, another half hour drive back home passing more fishtailing trucks…hasn’t anyone heard of sand in the pickup bed? Guess they don’t need it as much as I did in Indiana.
The only good thing about wintery weather in Austin is that I don’t have to wait 4 months for the weather to get better. By Saturday, the temps were back in the mid 70s and I was in shorts and a tee with Maddy at the park.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays all…
