It's the most wonderful time...

Marie and I made it out of our driveway after two attempts.  I dug the car out of the snow for the second time in about 12 hours.  I shoveled and shoveled while our neighbor was towed out of her driveway and then shoveled around her car.  

Marie got in the car and I told her I would push, direct, and dig.  We went backwards a little bit, but I wasn't watching close enough and Marie got stuck.  I told her to try and rock the car.  In Montana, usually the ground is usually frozen enough, that you will spin on the last layer of ice before hitting rock forever; not in oregon.  The ground was not frozen so my car tire, with the chains, dug down through the top soil and into the ground about 3 inches.  It was enough that the car could not get out.  I shoveled near both tires, and as we were stuck a police car stopped and rolled down it's window.   He instructed us to use state highways because the county roads were more sesceptible to falling trees with the freezing rain.  We thanked him and he laughed as we tried to continue with our struggle.  He left and Marie pulled forward.  I dug a little more of the snow out of the way and filled in the hole.  Marie backed out onto the road successfully and we escaped Carlton unscathed.   

On highway 99, we were following a small car, when all of a sudden both Marie and I saw a tree crack and fall in front of the small car.  He skidded and nearly hit the tree, I luckily had seen it coming and slowed down in time.  Coming toward us in the other lane, a pickup slid through the top of the tree sideways and bounced through the boughs.  We all got out of our cars and a line began to form in either lane.  Marie asked the pickup owner, who was a city worker, if he had a chainsaw.  He did and we all made short work of the tree.  Police cars showed up as we were finishing up clearing the tree and you could tell they were happy to not have to deal with this one.  They were searching for downed trees all morning.  

Marie and I made it to the train station successfully and were delayed about 3 hours before we departed.  We met up with our friend Anne and she took our car to her house.  The train ride was 25 hours long and we arrived in Havre Montana at 8:25 the next night.  We ate a late dinner and made it home after midnight.  

All my siblings made it home by Christmas Eve and it was the first Christmas with all four Eklund kids in 4 years.