It all started with the back and forth weather forecasts for Christmas Eve. I've pretty much come to know that the weather in Oklahoma is near impossible to forecast. And if the meteorologists even mention snow, you should just go ahead and be prepared. You may get flurries or you may get a blizzard, who knows.
I think Will Rogers said it best when he said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait a minute and it'll change."
This was my first year to host a Christmas dinner ever, and it had to be perfect. So I had been preparing and cleaning for days, you know it, base boards and all! I had an entire meal planned, snacks, desserts, drinks and all.
So Christmas Eve rolls around and we were all just waiting to see what this weather would actually do. My dad's side of the family has a big Christmas Eve celebration in Bartlesville every year with the whole family, candle light service, food, gift exchange and fun! We have a very close family and I never miss Christmas Eve at my grandparents! Surprise surprise, the meteorologists were wrong again, one to three inches my butt! We began to get sleet around 9 am, it came strong and stayed strong. As Adam's mom Donna and I were preparing snacks and meals for Christmas Day ahead of time, we watched out the kitchen window as the sleet blew in sideways with a 40+ mile and hour wind behind it. Most people said "it won't stick," boy were they wrong! It stuck from the second the first piece of ice hit the ground. We had about half an inch of ice on the ground by noon.
When you live out in the country and you start getting weather like this, there are many things that need to be done, in a hurry...cattle and horses need to be fed, some need to be moved, water needs to be checked, firewood needs to be covered, firewood needs to be brought inside, vehicles need to be moved, etc. This was all pretty painful without a hard plastic full face mask! That sleet was painful with that strong of a wind!
We had decided we were going to need to leave at least an hour before we had originally planned. Well about 30 minutes before we set out, the snow came. And no, the wind had not let up one bit. We are talking 75-yard, at the most, visibility. We were going to see how the roads looked. We pull out of our long driveway and immediately begin to slide around. It wasn't looking good for my hopes of getting to Bartlesville for my family's Christmas Eve. We pull onto highway 51 (east/west) with the wind blowing out of the north. The roads were solid ice with snow packing on top of it by the second. The wind was blowing so strong it almost blew us off the road several times. The roads were very very slick, doable but slick, the visibility was what really made it hard.
I could tell that Adam and his mom really didn't want to go, so I said turn around when we hit Stillwater and we saw it wasn't getting better. I actually said turn around twice during the trip, but he knew how much I wanted to make it. Being the great boyfriend he is, Adam knew how much Christmas Eve meant to me and kept pushing on. We passed several jackknifed semis and cars on the side of the road with absolutely zero help. We knew we were on our own if we went off the road. So we kept her slow and steady.
We finally made Bartlesville after a grueling 3 and a half hours on the road. Over an hour what it normally takes. We find out when we get to my grandparents that church was cancelled and we were the only idiots in the family to drive that far. The only other people there were people who lived in or around Bartlesville. Oh well, it was nice to get to spend time with my family.
No one could believe that we came, and were begging us to stay the night, but we were bound and determined to wake up on Christmas morning in our own bed. My uncles called the highway patrol and they said the Cimmaron turnpike was closed. We were dreading taking highway 51 home, but we were going to take it if we had to. Highway 75 south was really bad and very hard to see with all the snow in the dark, we contemplated stopping in Owasso and staying at my dad's house. And actually stopped at the 86th street exit and my brother made the final decision and said lets do it. "Now the fun ends and the adventure begins."
I made a second call to the highway patrol and again they said the turnpike was closed. We decided we would stay on the road until they had it blocked and absolutely would not let us continue on. That never happened, we hit the toll booth and there was actually someone there, and when we asked the guy if the turnpike was closed he looked at us like we were idiots. It was pretty amazing that the highway patrol lied to us. That could have been very dangerous if we would have taken highway 51, a 2-lane hilly and windy road in the dark, with a lot of snow coming down with 40 mile an hour winds. We finally made it to our driveway, four hours later. The whole time we were joking about how funny it would be if we made it all the way home and got stuck in our driveway were there is a spot that is notorious for snow drifts. We have a wheat field/pasture immediately north of our long gravel driveway and sure enough, there was 3-4 foot snow drift....that we got stuck in. After getting the tires hot and trying to get out for about 10 minutes, we decide we need to get our stuff and walk to the house. Heh, that was easier said than done. You know when you can barely open the door that it's not going to be pretty. After high stepping it, and I MEAN HIGH STEPPING IT, we finally made it to the house, lungs on fire and all!
Adam was bound and determined to get the truck out. It was well after midnight at this point, but he wasn't giving up. He got the loader out and began digging out the truck. Almost an hour later, the truck was free and we were able to lay our sweet little heads on our pillows, soon to have sugar plums dancing in our heads.
The next morning Adam and I exchanged gifts and waited on my mommy to arrive to exchange the rest. Oh ya, did I mention this was the first time my parents met Adam's mom? Ya, we've been together almost 2 1/2 years and they hadn't met. Anyway back to the story, everyone loved their presents, we had a fabulous meal and had a lot of fun listening to Christmas music and hanging out.
We had a very merry Christmas and I hope you and yours did as well! Now 363 days until Christmas again :(
I think Will Rogers said it best when he said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait a minute and it'll change."
This was my first year to host a Christmas dinner ever, and it had to be perfect. So I had been preparing and cleaning for days, you know it, base boards and all! I had an entire meal planned, snacks, desserts, drinks and all.
So Christmas Eve rolls around and we were all just waiting to see what this weather would actually do. My dad's side of the family has a big Christmas Eve celebration in Bartlesville every year with the whole family, candle light service, food, gift exchange and fun! We have a very close family and I never miss Christmas Eve at my grandparents! Surprise surprise, the meteorologists were wrong again, one to three inches my butt! We began to get sleet around 9 am, it came strong and stayed strong. As Adam's mom Donna and I were preparing snacks and meals for Christmas Day ahead of time, we watched out the kitchen window as the sleet blew in sideways with a 40+ mile and hour wind behind it. Most people said "it won't stick," boy were they wrong! It stuck from the second the first piece of ice hit the ground. We had about half an inch of ice on the ground by noon.
When you live out in the country and you start getting weather like this, there are many things that need to be done, in a hurry...cattle and horses need to be fed, some need to be moved, water needs to be checked, firewood needs to be covered, firewood needs to be brought inside, vehicles need to be moved, etc. This was all pretty painful without a hard plastic full face mask! That sleet was painful with that strong of a wind!
We had decided we were going to need to leave at least an hour before we had originally planned. Well about 30 minutes before we set out, the snow came. And no, the wind had not let up one bit. We are talking 75-yard, at the most, visibility. We were going to see how the roads looked. We pull out of our long driveway and immediately begin to slide around. It wasn't looking good for my hopes of getting to Bartlesville for my family's Christmas Eve. We pull onto highway 51 (east/west) with the wind blowing out of the north. The roads were solid ice with snow packing on top of it by the second. The wind was blowing so strong it almost blew us off the road several times. The roads were very very slick, doable but slick, the visibility was what really made it hard.
I could tell that Adam and his mom really didn't want to go, so I said turn around when we hit Stillwater and we saw it wasn't getting better. I actually said turn around twice during the trip, but he knew how much I wanted to make it. Being the great boyfriend he is, Adam knew how much Christmas Eve meant to me and kept pushing on. We passed several jackknifed semis and cars on the side of the road with absolutely zero help. We knew we were on our own if we went off the road. So we kept her slow and steady.
We finally made Bartlesville after a grueling 3 and a half hours on the road. Over an hour what it normally takes. We find out when we get to my grandparents that church was cancelled and we were the only idiots in the family to drive that far. The only other people there were people who lived in or around Bartlesville. Oh well, it was nice to get to spend time with my family.
No one could believe that we came, and were begging us to stay the night, but we were bound and determined to wake up on Christmas morning in our own bed. My uncles called the highway patrol and they said the Cimmaron turnpike was closed. We were dreading taking highway 51 home, but we were going to take it if we had to. Highway 75 south was really bad and very hard to see with all the snow in the dark, we contemplated stopping in Owasso and staying at my dad's house. And actually stopped at the 86th street exit and my brother made the final decision and said lets do it. "Now the fun ends and the adventure begins."
I made a second call to the highway patrol and again they said the turnpike was closed. We decided we would stay on the road until they had it blocked and absolutely would not let us continue on. That never happened, we hit the toll booth and there was actually someone there, and when we asked the guy if the turnpike was closed he looked at us like we were idiots. It was pretty amazing that the highway patrol lied to us. That could have been very dangerous if we would have taken highway 51, a 2-lane hilly and windy road in the dark, with a lot of snow coming down with 40 mile an hour winds. We finally made it to our driveway, four hours later. The whole time we were joking about how funny it would be if we made it all the way home and got stuck in our driveway were there is a spot that is notorious for snow drifts. We have a wheat field/pasture immediately north of our long gravel driveway and sure enough, there was 3-4 foot snow drift....that we got stuck in. After getting the tires hot and trying to get out for about 10 minutes, we decide we need to get our stuff and walk to the house. Heh, that was easier said than done. You know when you can barely open the door that it's not going to be pretty. After high stepping it, and I MEAN HIGH STEPPING IT, we finally made it to the house, lungs on fire and all!
Adam was bound and determined to get the truck out. It was well after midnight at this point, but he wasn't giving up. He got the loader out and began digging out the truck. Almost an hour later, the truck was free and we were able to lay our sweet little heads on our pillows, soon to have sugar plums dancing in our heads.
The next morning Adam and I exchanged gifts and waited on my mommy to arrive to exchange the rest. Oh ya, did I mention this was the first time my parents met Adam's mom? Ya, we've been together almost 2 1/2 years and they hadn't met. Anyway back to the story, everyone loved their presents, we had a fabulous meal and had a lot of fun listening to Christmas music and hanging out.
We had a very merry Christmas and I hope you and yours did as well! Now 363 days until Christmas again :(
Oh, goodness! Good thing you made it back. How sweet of Adam for pushing on even though it was SO dangerous. I'm sad we have to wait a whole year for Christmas, too!
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