We are having quite the ice storm right now. Many places in the city are without power, including the hospital where my mom works. We are lucky to be up and running because our powerlines run underground. Many trees cannot hold the weight of the ice build up and are bending and breaking. Some of these land on the power lines and cause a lot of damage.
The roads are also icy and slick and all schools and many businesses are closing. Most churches did not hold services yesterday. Jeff's office did not close, but people were not too happy about having to work. I can understand it, they fear for their own safety, or perhaps they just hoped for the "snow day" we got while we were in school. I was really proud of Jeff as he got all of these e-mails explaining why people couldn't make it in that he went in to take care of things. They did close the site down today, so he made sure to call all of the customers that they were scheduled to call from home to explain the situation. I was proud of his attitude of just doing what needs to be done. I remember being the employee who felt entitled to a snow day, really just excited about a free day off. I'm sure there are many of those out there today who are grumpy about having to be at work, and I'm grateful for those like my mom who work in places that continue to function while everyone else gets to stay home because they can't quit just for bad weather.
I carried on a tradition from my growing up years today with my boys. I begged them all day to make cookies with me. Finally in the afternoon they were excited to do it, so we made the dough together. They were not too happy about having to refrigerate the dough for TWO hours, I TOTALLY remember that as a kid. It seemed like FOREVER! Lincoln kept saying, "mom, it must be ready now!" Jackson fell asleep (luckily) before the creation of the candy cane cookies began. Lincoln ate more dough than he structured into shapes and some wacky shapes were made. I always forget how much the cookies grow in the oven and they all came out way too huge to even get off of the pan in one piece. Overall, there was not a pretty cookie to be had, but we had a fun time and I can carry on one of my favorite traditions from my childhood... taking the candy cane cookie recipe and making into crazy shapes... because really, how many times can you sit there and make candy cane shapes. Only three this time!
