arrived yesterday to lost luggage (after barely getting onto flight despite a confirmed seat). headed to brother’s home for some hide and seek with my nephews (forgot how exhilarating that game is – should play it more often!) then back to my parent’s home to snuggle up with my electric blanket. pops woke me up this morning saying it was time to get up. get up? it’s 9am! then he mentions that we don’t have heat or light. guess my electric blanket was feeling a bit chilly. this also means no running water since they are on well water. hmmm. fun day ahead. being a bit dramatic, and not used to country living, i proclaim, “we’re going to die here.”
sleet is pouring down, then heavy snow coupled with crazy wind. pops feeds the birds, then lights a fire. clearly, he has priorities. smoke begins to spew out of the fireplace due to the oklahoma wind. our eyes are watering, their dog is sneezing, and the fire alarm is going off.
get crafty with mum wearing headlamps. collage and stamp cards, bookmarks, and tags. i don’t enjoy cleaning the stamps (didn’t know you’re supposed to) so mum was my artistic helper and handled the dirty work. aren’t mums the best? so patient! begin to take photos but camera battery dies – along with cell phone. of course, chargers are in my checked baggage last seen in chicago. please note, i didn’t fly through chicago!
we just got electricity back and i’ve never been more grateful for running water, christmas lights, and heat. honestly, the whole day has been *more than humorous* – especially when mum wrote her name in the air with her headlamp claiming to be more than bored and pops kept running out to add more seed to the feeders for the hungry birds.
merry, merry christmas from oklahoma – a true winter wonderland adventure this year! best christmas EVER.
photo by patrick onofre for crave dc’s upcoming book
