So here we are in 2008! I sincerely hope that all of you had a restful and meaningful holiday season. Our time together was unexpectedly extended today by yet another big snowstorm, the third (fourth?) within a week.

Unlike the guy at the corner convenience store, I actually like snow in the winter, especially when it isn't so bitterly cold that you're forced to gaze at it wistfully from inside. And unlike many who are near and dear to us, we have a tiny little driveway that means compaining about shoveling would be ridiculous.

We are running into an unexpected problem, though... there has been so much of it that there is nowhere left to put the snow. Mitch went out this morning to find the van under a thick blanket of waist-deep snow, thinking he might need to go to work. After an exhausting hour, he had shovelled out just enough space for the van to fit through.

Yes, that snow pile is taller than Mitch and it covers nearly half of our tiny lawn. Aaaaand there's one just like it on the other side.

About five hours later I went out to shovel again, since the snow was knee-deep already. It gets tiring trying to throw above your head. Really tiring to throw above your head and eight feet away. There was nowhere left to put it and then... a front-end loader came rumbling down the street and saw me on top of the snow trying to move the mountain (if only I had faith as a mustard seed...). He made four passes at our driveway, dumping all that extra snow in the huge banks across the street, before rumbling off into the distance.

Hooray! Thank God for kindhearted plow workers!

Of course, more snowstorms mean more hot chocolate. Bottoms up!