“Why” you ask? Well …

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The Christmas 2009 winter storm will continue to impact the area through Saturday morning. For the remainder of Christmas Eve…there will be periods of light snow. Snow rates will increase from late tonight through early Saturday morning…and north winds will increase to 25 to 35 mph…causing considerable blowing and drifting snow with blizzard conditions. Widespread whiteouts can be expected across much of Eastern North Dakota into adjacent Minnesota counties. Travel Christmas Day will be extremely hazardous. The map represents additional snowfall accumulation expected from noontime Christmas Eve through midday Saturday. On Saturday…the snow will wind down slowly but winds will still be high and visibility poor. Sunday will be better with no snow in the forecast and winds diminishing. Please stay tuned for further updates.

As you can see, Mother Nature had other ideas. Well, her Christmas present is going back. LOL

We got about 6 inches of snow overnite here in Fargo. It didn’t snow all that much during the day, and it wasn’t all that windy. I did consider leaving work early to head to Mom & Dad’s before it started snowing again. I obviously decided against going. The road reports for my route home was “snow covered” then “continuous ice/compacted snow” then “scattered ice frost” and back to “continuous ice/compacted snow”. I decided to use my better judgement and stay in Fargo. If the roads are travelable on Sunday, I’ll head to Mom & Dad’s (unless they decide to come up to Fargo). And if the roads are still shitty, there’s always next weekend.

Robin ended up staying in Fargo too. If the roads in town are passable, maybe I’ll venture over to her place to hang out. Otherwise I don’t know what I’ll do. I plan on making some chili cheese dip tonite to munch on (I was going to make it and take it to Mom & Dad’s). I bought the ingredients yesterday to make lasagna. I might make that tonite so I can pop it in the oven tomorrow for dinner (with leftovers for supper). And I have beer in the fridge and vanilla vodka chilled out in the freezer.

It definitely sucks being stuck here in Fargo (alone) for Christmas. It’s the first time that I haven’t made it home for Christmas. But I’d rather be stuck here than in some ditch or worse. I guess the Christmas presents and baked goodies will just have to wait. I just wish Mom hadn’t said that she had some krumkaka for me (I love those). Maybe I can hitch a ride with Santa.

I sent out a Christmas letter with my cards. I thought I would post it here for my friends that I don’t have addresses for.

December 2009

Wow. A Christmas letter from me 2 years in a row? That probably won’t ever happen again.

The past year or so has been kind of stressful for me, but things are starting to look up. As I said in last year’s letter, I lost my job in October 2008 and started a contract position in December 2008. That contract position only lasted 4 months (I was filling in for someone on maternity leave). I found another contract position in May 2009. The position was supposed to be a contract to hire position, but the company ended my contract early in August (and laid off 15 people the day after my contract ended). All that uncertainty almost drove me crazy.

But I said things are starting to look up, didn’t I? I started a new job (a permanent one this time around) in November. It’s with a company in Moorhead. I’ve been there for about a month and a half now, and I’m very happy. I get to work with php and MySQL again, which I really enjoy working with (yes … I AM a geek).

I’m not sure what 2010 will bring, but I’m hoping it keeps on the upswing. I had been planning on buying a house, but the rollercoaster that my work life has been over the past year has put that on hold for a little while longer. While I don’t have the money saved up for a house just yet, I do have some money saved that I think I’ll be putting towards a new car in the spring. I’ve had my car since 2001, so it’s time for an upgrade.

I hope this holiday season treats you well. I hope Santa brings you everything that you ask for. ;) Make sure to take time to treat yourself well during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Take care and have a great 2010.

Happy Holidays …

Becky