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Snow - Well, it seems like the bulk of the storm is beyond us now. What a way to take over an entire weekend. It all started Saturday in the early hours. Even as the sun was going down tonight (Sunday) there were still traces of snow from residual squalls. I don't think there ever was a time when it came down heavily. In fact when I went out to clear the driveway late Saturday afternoon, there was only about three inches on the ground. The bulk of the snowfall hit overnight. I went back out again late this morning to clean that up. I was a bit panicked at first because the augers of the snowblower wouldn't engage. I soon ascertained that the lever that engages the auger had developed a little too much slack. After whipping out the toolbox and tightening things up, the snowblower again threw snow as usual. The gusty shifting winds often threw the snow right back in my face. All in all, I'd estimate our area got about a foot of snow -- a bit on the light side for a "classic Nor'easter".

Keeping busy - The girls got to go outside and do some sledding. It was a bit funny in that Claire spent most of the day Saturday asking to sled. When we finally let her go out on Sunday, she wore herself out in short order and had no desire to go again for the rest of the day. The twins hated going outside. They don't have the inseam to walk comfortably in foot deep snow. Inside the house we lit plenty of fires in the fireplace this weekend, watched plenty of Rankin Bass produced Christmas specials (ABC Family channel is going like gangbusters in this regard), and played a few rounds of Mario Party 5. I'm almost eager to go back to work tomorrow -- not because I want to get away from the kids, but just to get out. The only trip I did this weekend was to take Claire to gymnastics lessons.

Snow ball fight - So if you were so lucky as to be spared any legacy of this storm, may I warmly recommend this snowball fight game done in Macromedia Flash. I played it for at least an hour this weekend. My twins loved looking over my shoulder. They laughed every time they heard the kids giggle at the end. The highest I got was level 4. I'm sure TJ should be able to beat me on that! *grin*

If I don't get a chance to write tomorrow, let me extend a Happy Birthday wish to Bev on behalf of the entire family, especially Daniel (her godson). If you look closely now, you'll notice three of Alyssa's kids and three of our kids are in the birthday countdown. It's a "birthday busy" time of year.

Materialism - In light of the tension between the materialism pushed by marketing/commercials and the "true meaning" of the Christmas season, I offer up a few words from John Paul II.

"It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards "having" rather than "being", and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself." -- 1991

"In a word, we can say that the cultural change which we are calling for demands from everyone the courage to adopt a new life-style, consisting in making practical choices - at the personal, family, social and international level - on the basis of a correct scale of values: the primacy of being over having, of the person over things." -- 1995