A very snowy holiday

I had planned to share photos of all the handmade gifts I made this year. Unfortunately, a blizzard (yes, a blizzard in Oklahoma!) majorly altered our Christmas plans, so I haven't finished distributing everything yet. The sleet and hail started in early on the Eve, and by 4:00, a blanket of snow began to cover the city. We had planned to see my mom's half of the family for a while that afternoon but quickly rethought our plans. Mom and her amazing guilt trip brought us across town for a brief, hour-long visit, which, given my crankiness about the holidays in general, was probably perfect. Since my grandmother hosts but is badly in need of a hip replacement, my mom, uncle, taller half and myself did all the cooking. Between all of us, we had a delicious, stress-free spread of -- believe it or not -- totally vegetarian fare. It was perfect.

The snow continued to fall and fall. The official count is 5.8 inches in Tulsa, but there were drifts several feet high. Our part of the state actually got the least of it, too. I'm always the last person to be excited about the fluffy white stuff, but I have to admit that this was one of the best holidays I've ever had. We were stuck inside -- just the two of us -- from about 3:00 on the 24th until Sunday. We did venture out to walk the dog, but our cars stayed firmly in place. (As if we had another choice. Oh, the joys of apartment life.) I'll do a better rundown of some of my loot in another post, but I did want to share a couple of cell phone shots. First is our now-traditional Christmas breakfast:

Yep, that is a plate full of homemade (by me!) buttermilk biscuits and vegetarian white gravy (crafted by my beloved). The meal was decidedly un-vegan, but I'm back on the bandwagon today. We had coffee and fruit on the side. I wish this picture was representative of all the biscuits-and-gravy consumption but, well, there may have been seconds. And we may have barely put a dent into the fruit. Oh well. Next up is some snowy aftermath downtown:

It cracked me up that the plows moved the snow into a giant pile into the middle of Denver, a busy downtown street. I bet it won't be there for long. The work week is once again upon us.

I hope you all had a safe, warm, happy holiday. I also want to show some love to Hollyrocks, who is getting hitched today. Yay! I'm so happy for the newlyweds-to-be. Send them your good thoughts, and let's hope Eureka Springs welcomes them with open arms. :)