I learned how to make it snow in Photoshop!

Icepocalypse 2013

Very cold, but happy family!

Snow paint. Lea made "ice rink closed and open signs"

Our nature walk revealed many beautiful patterns left by the ice. We even had a small ice bowl made by a finial on a fence.

Cold, but in love!

Everything is encased in ice.

Including the cars! We didn't leave time to defrost on Sunday so Lea and I walked to church and had a great nature walk on the way home.

Lea and her icy domain.

Cold Daddy!

Homemade donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon to warm up the family. Lea's advent calendar was filled with "get to do's" instead of candy or chocolates. Think like donuts in the morning, pretend time, no bed time, treats like that.

A conversation with a friend on our annual shopping trip (which by the way was originally canceled due to the ice storm on the first week of December and rescheduled with 4 other events that Saturday & Sunday) — this friend reminded me that our life should always be filled with poetry. The conversation was about her child's teacher inspiring a love of poetry while her other child was not exposed to poetry, but still wrote it on his own. Awesome! I related a story about my college English class, something like 102 which was a required class and therefore had a student base from all walks of life and diciplines. This class was an evening class so there were many older people (probably the age I am now, but in my 20s I thought them mature and dowdy) who were returning to school. One particular woman who I believe was trying to become a teacher (truly tragic in afterthought) said to our teacher something to the effect of "Once I leave this classroom I will have no use and no place in my life for poetry. It is a waste of time and energy." As my memory goes I, in a boldness fueled by youthful certaintly actually said to her "I feel sorry for you. I find it a tragedy that you have no place in your life for poetry. I hope that I never come to a time in my life when I don't have time or energy for poetry." The woman gave me the usual song and dance about how I was young and didn't have a job and children and one day I would understand. So after hearing this my friend asked "So, have you changed your position on poetry?" No. No I haven't. I don't while away the hours reading Maya Angelo or Keats, but we read Shel Silverstein so much that Lea has the memorized. I used to write little silly poems for Sherry when we lived together, poems so pointless that they just said we were out of milk. I'm no grand poetry and I find it hard to write poems that don't rhyme a little and I'm terrible at beats (I have no rhythm — even Lea can attest to that!). But that doesn't stop me. So I came home from that conversation and at dinner, without explaining my motivation I threw a line or two at Dan and Lea and we started rhyming about the ice storm. Lea's contribution was "On Cocoa, on Chocolate, on marshmallow..." I added the toddy and tea. She also insisted we add the line "All children in bed except our Lea" — at one time we had TV-ya rhymed with it, but we worked out our prose problems. And in case you think this poetry business is one sided, be clear that Dan wrote more of this than I did. He's great at changing the words to songs and breaking into rhyme or pun at a moment's notice. And so you probably saw this already as we used it for our Christmas card, but here is our family's poem project. 

An ode to Icepocalypse

Icepocalypse had come on a weekend in December, as I recall t’was the first
Everything was canceled. Everyone was expecting the worst.
Our schedule was full to the brim — morning to night — so full it would burst
And now we had nothing to do, a skill in which our family was well versed.

The snow it was a’ snowing.
The wind it was a’ blowing,
But the only thing a’ showing
was a layer of ice that kept us from a’going.

The Neals were nestled all safe at home
Awaiting the visit of a yuletide gnome
In his bright red sleigh with runners of chrome
While outside resembled not Dallas, but Nome. 

All Children were asleep except for our Lea K.
Who was nestled on the couch watching TV all day
Daddy at computer and Mommy snug under her duvet
But some special family time too, and game after game we did play

The trees were a’ creaking
and we were a’ seeking
a kid who was a’sneaking
at presents a’ peeking.

On Toddy. On Cocoa. On Marshmallow and Tea.
We stayed warm until Tuesday when the weather set us free
Back to our Texas norm and temps around seventy-three
But whatever the weather we happily together will be.

Whatever the weather, whatever the storm, no need to fear
Being together for a long weekend or going at full gear
We’re thinking of you, our friends and family from far and near
We all wrote this to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!