Christmas & the New Year

After Thanksgiving, the rest of the semester flew by, and then it was off to ABQ for a lovely Christmas. Because of our school schedule this year, we didn't travel until 12/23, so in some ways, it felt like Christmas snuck up on us. As always, it was a visit filled with family time and great food. Most of you who read this blog were there, so I'll skip ahead.

We flew back to BG on New Year's Eve and drove home from Detroit during the beginning of what would become a pretty big snow storm. Mark did the driving, and it was not pleasant, but he did such a great job, getting us home safely just after midnight. After that, the snow kept falling until we had about 6-8 inches on the ground. We were really happy that we made it home on schedule and didn't get stuck somewhere else on the way!

We were pretty tired, though, and I had a head cold, so the start to our new year was very low key. It's hard to believe that we've been home now for a week, and that the first week of 2014 has already come and gone! By this date last year, we'd already started back to school, but our first day of class this year is Monday, 1/13. I've spent the last couple of days getting organized, and I actually think I've gotten more prep work done before the start of the semester than usual (partly because I worked really hard on it during finals week, too). I hope this will mean a smooth start next week, leading to a less stressful semester on the whole.

The other main thing going on around here is another serious winter storm. Starting on Sunday, we had more snow--between 7 and 10 inches by the time it stopped falling. Then, the wind picked up and cold air from Canada moved in, and we were stuck below 0 for a few days. Between the snow blowing and drifting over the roads and the severe wind chills, everything in northwest OH has pretty much been shut down for the last few days. In fact, BGSU has been closed since Monday. We were ready for the storm, and I had all I needed to work from home, so it really hasn't changed our plans much. Of course, even though I'm quite a homebody, after 3 or 4 days without being able to leave the house, even I'm getting a bit stir crazy!

Here are a few pictures (taken with our new camera--thanks, Mom!).

In the corner of our balcony, there's over a foot of snow that blew in on the high winds.

See the big drifts of snow on our neighbors' roof? The icicles are even bigger now.

After the sun came out! It's hard to see how deep the snow really is out there. 

Looking out the front door of the building after the sidewalk was cleared.