My Christmas Vacation
I’m not very good about taking pictures when I travel (being better about that is one of my New Year’s resolutions) but here’s what I can show you from my trip back to Nebraska for Christmas! (sorry for the random photo sizes, these are a mix of cell phone pictures and pictures from my camera.)
When I first arrived in Lincoln we drove down “O” street to see the Christmas lights. It looked exactly like I remembered. Except for this:
Attached to the Walgreens was this big lighted chicken that appeared to be wearing a beret and wagging its tail like a dog. It also has the huge number 3 on it. I was confused until my friends explained that the city of Lincoln has invested in getting lighted representations of all 12 days of Christmas and displaying them around town. Right now they just have a few. “Three Hens a-Laying” is apparently one of them. I guess the wagging tail is because it’s laying an egg. They will collect all 12 over the next few years I guess. Then the chicken will make more sense.
My mom lives in a small town a couple hours outside of Lincoln. A huge blizzard was about to hit Nebraska so I left Lincoln early the next morning to try to beat the storm. It began as rain, then turned to ice that melted on the roads but began to stick to every other surface. Every twig of every tree.
Then I ran over a board with a bunch of nails sticking out of it and had to drive on the rim to a small town tire shop and wait two hours for them to put a whole new tire on. No photos of that, sorry. : )
So then two hours later I was back on the road to my mom’s! But by that time the ice had turned to snow, and was no longer melting on the road.
And then the wind started and I was lucky I was almost to my mom’s house because it became a full-blown blizzard and the roads were getting covered with snow fast.
Then we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas and I stopped taking pictures and ate way too much food. And it was a blizzard outside the whole time. We got about 2 feet of fresh snow, which the wind made into drifts 10 feet tall in some places. Four days after the blizzard started, the sun finally came out again. Here’s my mom’s front walkway. That poor little hedge sticking out of the snow is about as tall as my hip.
And finally, this is my sister (behind the car) helping me dig out my rental car so I can head back to the airport. She does not have a pointy head that is just an unfortunately positioned shadow behind her hat.
UPDATE: Thanks to @CableMonkey for pointing out that the chicken is wearing a beret because it’s a French Hen. Cannot believe I didn’t pick up on that (or remember the song correctly…)
This seems like a good topic for your new Sam-E blog. How To Stay Positive When You Pop A Tire. Or something.
I missed the chicken laying eggs?!?! I didn’t even know about that!
Glad you survived the trip and got your fill of snow for the year. Was airport security on domestic flights bad – were you able to read/get up for the last hour of your flight?
That is 3 French Hens. That is why it was wearing a beret.
I fail to see the obligatory snowman picture. You MUST have made a snowman, right?
@CableMonkey — Of course! 3 FRENCH hens! Why did my brain think the third day was three hens-a-laying? It’s the geese that lay. I was just trying to find an excuse for the wagging tail I guess…
@Gavin – Sadly, no snowman. It’s wasn’t quite “snowman snow” – you know what I mean? Snow has to be a certain amount wet/sticky to be able to make a snowman out of it. This was more like hard as a rock, pancake snow.
@Osmyn – silly as I made it sound, Lincoln’s whole “12 Days of Christmas” lights thing is actually really smart marketing I think. Because now every year I want to go to Lincoln and see which new days of the song they added. And my flights weren’t overly tight one security. We did have the airplane’s bathroom pipes freeze though so no one could use the restroom.
The snow there looks so pretty! Wish it would snow where I live err. Dang Cali.
Wowzers we got about 2 ft of snow- thankfully it went away fast!
Hello,Brigitte.
Had the snow been more intense,you may have been able to stay and photograph all 12 days of Christmas.
The rain turning to ice is the worst possible thing.Ice storms like that,can break tree limbs,and cause power failures.
We’ve got a Lincoln in the UK, but it’s nowhere near as pretty
) sounds like you had a good time – happy new year for tomorrow!!
I was in Omaha for the blizzard. I got snowed in with 14 of my family members along with a nasty stomach flu. But entertainment was everywhere, especially in the form of my neighbor who attempted to snow blow his entire yard so his dog wouldn’t have to squat in the snow. Good times. Speaking of dogs, where was Maddy?
Was concerned for awhile then remembered you grew up in those conditions. So glad you are safe and sound now and diggin your doggy. Happy New Year!
Looking at those pics makes me even more glad to live in SoCal and was able to bbq my Christmas turkey. Ahhhhh, short sleeves in December.
Happy New Year, everybody.
Brigitte -
Not too many things are better than Christmas with family. Especially
when there is also good food!
Where is the picture of the ugly sweater aunt gave you for Christmas? Or does that just happen to me?
Happy New Years!
That’s too bad about your tire! Thanks for the photos of the blizzard. I never think to photograph our Nebraska seasons and will make that a resolution of my own.
Hey Brigitte,
Glad you had a good Christmas and New Year, but where have you gone?
Withdrawal symptoms : (
When do you start having a good mood to blog about?
Peas and New Year Joys
: )
The tail-wagging, beret-wearing Hen also appears to be standing on a French flag. Who thinks these things up?
arms folded
foot tap, foot tap, foot tap
waiting, waiting, waiting
that tree-top picture is very special!