Anna and her favorite Christmas gift! What was her mother thinking...

Rochester Minnesota - Christmas 2010 the chaos

Lots of people, lots of gifts, several games - lots of fun!

Rochester Minnesota - Christmas 2010

Before Christmas Eve arrived we set the record for the most snow ever in the month of December.  Not sure it is a record I want to participate in again.  Snow everywhere.  Lots of efforts to find a place to put it all but all indications are it is going to be a long, long snowy winter.
There is already talk of additional storms of sorts starting on Wednesday and continuing on and off through New Years.  We'll see how it shapes up over the next few days.
Another good crowd in Rochester to celebrate Christmas.  We had snow struggles here before the festivities began and got Peter out early to get back to the East Coast before he was snowed out.
We even got a call in to Ethiopia to report on the snow and get an update on Dawit's new adventure.
Plenty of noise, chaos and fun to be had for everyone from 18 months to 83 years.

Saint Paul MN - digging back to normal

The sun came out and the dig out continues. 
It may be below zero wind chills but it sure looks good out there with the sun shining. 

Saint Paul MN - let snow...and snow...and blow...

This will certainly go down as one of the great December storms. 
Up over 15 inches before the drifts - they look like they are running over 48 inches in my driveway.  And more coming down before the wind and cold really get to work. 
And we will reach new heights of snow one all the clean up gets completed. 
The view at dusk before the night does its magic. 

Saint Paul MN - winter wonderland

We are 10 inches in to what they are predicting to be at least double that before it stops.  Winds at 30 mph so far have left 3 foot drifts in my driveway - and throughout the neighborhood as I went for a morning wander. 
The perfect storm.  After the snow stops the winds from the tundra will arrive and we will head below zero with bigger winds and killer wind chills for the evening and the next few days. 
Once they get this all plowed out we will no doubt be driving in snow tunnels for the balance of the winter.
And winter officially gets it start in 9 days...setting up to be an interesting one.