A White Christmas

Non-Coloradans may assume that it snows every Christmas in Denver. This is not the case, however. In the past 106 years it has only snowed 13 times on Christmas Day in the Denver area. It is not extraordinary, then, that this Christmas was my first "white Christmas" ever, having moved here from Texas in 1999. Katie and I spent Christmas Eve night at Mom and Dad's house in the canyon, and woke up to steadily falling snow that continued for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, Coal Creek Canyon had officially received 13.6 inches.


For Christmas dinner this year, the Archers had spaghetti. We've had spaghetti on Christmas several times over the years, which is not terribly surprising when you consider my Mom's Sicilian heritage. I made about 37 meatballs on Christmas Eve, and Laura and I made the sauce Christmas morning. While the sauce was cooking, we all opened presents by the tree.


Here Dad is opening his back massager, a gift from Mom and Laura. He was very excited, and immediately affixed it to a chair, which he then sat in during dinner.


Laura got me some pipe 'baccy and cigars. I felt kind of like a Grandpa, though the gift was right up my ally.


Benjamin, my parents' dachshund, is the only dog I've ever known that watches television and reads books. He's been known to lay on the couch and watch entire, feature-length movies. It is commonly said that dogs cannot see in two dimensions; however, Ben specifically looks for (and recognizes) pictures of dogs in books and on TV. In the above photo, Ben is looking on expectantly as Katie turns each page. Unfortunately for Ben, the book is about mountaineering, a subject for which he has no interest.


Here, Laura's boyfriend, Gabe, opens a present from my parents. Gabe, and also Jessica (a family friend) had dinner with us. After dinner, Katie and I went to Katie's parents' house, where we visited, and eventually had dinner with Bruce, Julie, Eric, Mindy, and Dave.


Jasmine pulls a goodie out of her stocking.


Katie was trying to get a shot of the tree at her parents' house. As you can see, Mindy leaned in for a last-minute cameo.


Jasmine and her Aunt Kate. Jasmine received some clip-on kitty earrings from Pappy (aka, Bruce), which is what she is fiddling with in the pic.


For dinner we had turkey, ham, potatoes, veggies, croissants, and strawberry salad. Afterwards we opened presents, then watched "Napoleon Dynamite" and ate candy canes and apple pie. Katie and I finally had to leave, fighting our way out of the canyon and braving icy roads all the way home. It was a fun and beautiful White Christmas.