CHRISTMAS 2017

Nick and Hallie leaving the farm in Subaru Forester, Dec. 26

We had a lovely white country Christmas, the kind that reminds you of a Christmas romance. What the stories don’t tell you is that while the snowy scenery is beautiful, it’s also treacherous.

Mike always worries that we’ll get stuck in the lane, but we drove right in on Thursday (Dec. 21) over several inches of snow.  Thursday night and all day Friday it snowed, giving us 6-8 more inches. Now Mike worried about Hallie and Nick driving in on Saturday. He called the county road department to be sure they would plow our road. They said they would, but not until Saturday. Fine, said Mike – that works.

It was cold, too, but I pulled on my fleecy little jacket and worked away. Mike brought the tree from the barn and I set it up and decorated it with Hallmark houses. Mike set up a laser light against the barn, which proved to be great fun. The solar lights Hallie and I put in a little pine at the pond were also a nice touch for our celebration.

Saturday the county plowed our road. The operator said that he had thought he only had to plow partway, but he happened to see our pick-up and came on down the road. (So much for the effectiveness of Mike’s call to the road department.) Our lane was still unplowed, and I began to message daughter Hallie about road conditions. She responded by saying that they had hoped to surprise us but they were driving their recently purchased 2016 Subaru Forester and not her VW Jetta. We were indeed relieved. And then neighbors came in and plowed the lane with their bladed UTVs. They said they were plowing everyone’s lanes, and they were obviously having a lot of fun.

Hallie and Nick's Subaru

Hallie and Nick made it in with no problem but not until 9:30 p.m. We had to get a good night’s rest before we could begin celebrating. The low that night was +4 but Mike inadvertently managed to get the house really warm with a pitchy pine log. No one minded.

Sunday morning (Christmas Eve) found us enjoying a country breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. We did some cooking, cleaning, and decorating, and our friends Ken and Ginny came for lunch. We visited over a game of dominoes and they left as daylight was waning.

Missing pieces

Interesting puzzle

We might have opened our gifts that night, but we decided we were too tired and waited until Christmas morning. We had a quiet day. We played a game of Yahtzee. Then Hallie strapped her new safety belt with LED lights across her chest and went for a run in the snow, impressing her dad with her fitness and stamina. Later, Hallie and Nick found some old jigsaw puzzles (small ones) left from the Dobson family which they put together. Hallie turned over one of the boxes to find notes from Grandma Ina regarding missing pieces – a message from the past.

Ready to load up

It continued cold and we had more snow. At dusk, the neighbor zipped through to plow the lane again. I keep telling Mike we should get our own UTV, but instead he’s shopping for a blade for our 4-wheeler.

Subaru just making the bend

Tuesday (Dec. 26) was a busy day. I began packing as soon as I got up. Then I unloaded the refrigerator. Hallie washed the stove and then she and Mike cleaned the fridge. Hallie and Nick left for Seattle about 11:00, and she texted that they had no problem making it up Plank’s Pitch.

Mike removes chains

Mike and I spent two more hours at the farmhouse – he winterizing and I taking ornaments off the tree. We left at 1:00 p.m., stopping at the top of Plank’s Pitch to remove the chains. We were hungry, so we stopped at Subway on Riverside (Orofino) for a sandwich. We were in town by 3:30, and then I unpacked, a process which is mostly finished as I write. KW