A White Christmas

As promised, here is the first of many posts to catch up on what's being going on with the Pierce family! This one will be all about our Christmas and amazing blizzard that hit on Christmas Eve...

Every year since I've been a nurse, I work Christmas Eve and am off Christmas Day. So we usually do our presents on Christmas Eve (with Arby's roast beef sandwiches) then spend time w/family for Christmas Day after I've had a couple of hours of sleep. Well, this year went a little differently...we started opening our presents early in the afternoon, and during so a heavy snowstorm was moving into Oklahoma from the west.

It was snowing harder and harder, and our family was calling and telling us how bad the roads were getting and how many wrecks there were.

But this is the downside of working in the medical field--hospitals don't close for the holidays!! I had every intention of taking my husband's 4x4 and roughing it the 15 miles to my work. The last time I had missed a day of work was August 2008 because I was stuck in a hurricane in Jamaica! I digress...against everyone's advice I bundled up and hit the road around 5 pm. I called my boss and said I was on my way and would try my hardest to get there. She said that the supervisor headed out at noon and still wasn't there!

I couldn't take the highway because it was down to one lane at a standstill. So the only other road I knew of was this two-lane street that curves through the country past our addition. So I turned around (after spinning a few times) and headed that direction. Unfortunately I made it no more than 2 miles from my house before I completely slid off of the road, spun around, and got stuck in a snow drift. I called Nick to tell him I was stuck and nothing was working. He said he was going to have a neighbor watch Bradley and WALK to the truck and get it out, haha. I kept working on it, going back and forth trying to get traction as other people all around me were getting stuck. Finally after about 20 minutes of this I got it loose enough to get back on the road. I tucked my tail between my legs and headed home.

When I got home I guiltily called my boss and said there was NO way that I could make it to work and that I was very sorry.

We tried to make a good night of it so we built a fire in the fireplace. After we put Bradley to bed, we bundled up and went outside to frolic in the snowdrifts and enjoy the rare snow.

Long story short, only 3 out of 11 nurses made it in that night, and in turn the day shift had to stay overnight and work over 24 hours straight to cover the unit. And since a lot of dayshifters couldn't make it in on Christmas day, some of the night nurses had to stay and work the day shift also! I got a call at 4am from them desperately pleading for any amount of help during the day so they could get some sleep. So on Christmas morning we headed to my mom's house, and after we got done with presents and eating over there, I went in to work and put in a few hours until the night shift came in. The nurse I relieved had been working 20 hours!

Anywho...everything worked out in the end, and everyone got home safely. I think Bradley enjoyed his first Christmas, and we were so happy that it could be a snowy one!! We haven't had a white Christmas in Oklahoma in ages.

^ This is Christmas morning leaving our addition to go to my mom's house.

^ These are some of the cars that were all stranded along the highway.

That's it for now! My next post will be of Bradley's 6 month stats, and of crafts that I made for Christmas presents. Check back soon!