Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Just in case you missed it, Washington DC received several feet of snow last week-end. I know many of you have seen the white stuff this past week but this was a pretty epic DC storm. It began Friday night and didn't stop till Saturday evening. We had tickets to the ICE Winter wonderland on Saturday morning at the National Harbor. They said they would honor the tickets whatever time we got there. We were only about an hour later than our ticket time but it was quite an adventure to get there. Getting down our street was only the start, none of the roads were clear, not even the major roads and it was decidedly a blizzard out there. This is Mass Ave at 10 am on Saturday morning and the Washington Monument later in the afternoon.



Those that were out were mainly in 4WD, we were in the mommie mobile! A 40 minute journey took us nearly two hours. At one point, we were going down an unploughed hill and I had images of being stuck there till Monday and beyond. My first thought - I only have enough medication for Isabella till this evening. But, we were fully kitted in our ski gear, we'll just walk somewhere and get home somehow. My three maps told me there was no right turn through to our destination at the bottom of the hill we were going down, contrary to what Gregorio's TomTom indicated.....You can imagine the initial exchange between G and I! Thankfully Gregorio and I do make a good team. Peter, you taught me how to read a map well and with absolute silence in the car Gregorio is a damn good driver even under such treacherous conditions. We managed to get to the bottom and have enough momentum to get up the next street to the left and crawled by sheer will power to the top of the hill and returned to a flat road, albeit still covered in snow. We eventually made it to National Harbor and found a covered car park - we didn't have the shovel with us and we didn't fancy digging ourselves out with a frisbee. Anyway we finally made it to ICE, needless to say we had the place to ourselves and it was spectacular. It was 9 F inside, they gave us warm coats which we put on top of our ski gear and we felt just right! The ice penguins in the igloo, the ice castle, the slides, the ice nativity scene. It was really beautiful. The drive home was less adventurous but we were pleased to be back inside.

On Sunday, Gregorio, whom as many of you know, does not willingly get out of bed on a Sunday morning, was up shoveling snow off the driveway at 8am. Shortly before 10 we were on our way to the ski slopes. It was fantastic snow and crystal clear blue skies with sunshine. The perfect day to start a new ski season. Girls loved it too and we bumped into some school friends who had not managed to fly back to Spain due to the weather. That evening we went to our friend's annual carols and curry party. It is always such a lovely occasion and a great way to start Christmas. During the party Gregorio recieved some good news: Mr Obama had kindly closed the federal government on Monday due to the weather and so Gregorio's office was closed also. Monday we were on the slopes by 10:30! Two day's skiing and snow shoveling we were happy but exhausted. Here we are moosing around while taking a break from the slopes.

I had hoped to fit in another visit to the slopes this week but last minute Christmas shopping and baking has taken over. There was a momentary panic that Santa (courtesy of amazon.com) might not deliver on time due to the weather but all has arrived. Isabella decided she wanted to bake cheesey scones for all the staff in the oncology clinic. They were then all packaged up into individual gift bags with personalized cards for everyone. She put a lot of love and care into each one. Very sweet. We had quite a production line going in the kitchen on Tuesday morning. Isabella made about 50 scones, I was on the other side of the kitchen baking mince pies and Matilde found her corner and made her own concoction "I need more baking powder, now more milk, hmmm now a bit of clementine juice" and so the ingredients were stirred in as she thought of something else that needed to be added. The mixture was then covered and labeled "Matilde's reszepe" and put in the fridge. When asked what she was going to do with it, she replied "I'm not sure, but right now I am waiting for the butter to rise!!" Unique. 


We had a very quick and easy visit to Children's this morning. Accessed without trouble, handed out her gifts, blood counts still quite good and chemo administered. A number of the staff were not in today and many won't be there next week when we conclude this chapter. Those that we did see gave Isabella big hugs and congratulations for having made it through the year. ONE more round on New Year's Eve.


Meanwhile it is a lovely sunny crisp day in DC and there is still plenty of snow around to create the magical white Christmas. Gregorio has prepared this evening's menu: baby octopus soup, linguine alle vongole and swordfish steaks and a selection of festive sorbets. And tomorrow we are lunching with friends. Marvellous. Now it is time to read our special messages that have arrived by email from Santa and then we can even track his deliveries on the internet. Yes we are going full out with the whole Santa story. Having seen the REAL Santa at the North Pole there is no shadow of a doubt that he exists!


We enjoyed a lovely candlelit carol concert at the National Cathedral last night and this evening, before tucking into our fishy feast we'll head down to see the live nativity scene at a church up the street.


Many of you are already tucking into Christmas and unwrapping presents as I hit publish. 


Wishing you all a VERY Merry Christmas from Washington DC.


More next week.


Lots of love,
Emma & Gregorio xxx