Christmas storm

Hi all!

So I know I'm not in Ireland yet, but I was getting bored of not having anything to post. Today we're having a crazy blizzard up here in the frigid northlands of Minnesota!

 This picture was not of the craziest time (then we couldn't see those buildings in the background at all!) We've already gotten at least 8 inches, with much larger drifts because of all the wind. It's a great day for staying cozy inside!

We've been decorating and getting in the Christmas spirit over the past couple weeks. Mom very kindly sent us a set of gingerbread house pieces, so I put it together last week. Eileen, Neil, Maggie and I had a lot of fun decorating it while watching Miracle on 34th St. The final product is a little funny looking, because the icing was kind of runny, and we ate more candy than we put on the house....

One of the little gingerbread snowmen decided to climb up on the roof and keep watch for Santa!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Maggie and I put up our tree. Actually, Maggie did most of it, because I was sick, but we both put on the tinsel and ornaments. We're not allowed to have lights in the apartment, but I think that the tinsel is sparkly enough to make up for the lack. We made a paper star for the top, which took a lot of calculating and paper scraps to figure out how to make it properly 3-dimensional.

Also, in this photo, you can see the snow piling up on the ledge outside the window - about ten inches there at the bottom!

I'm getting really excited about going to Ireland - I can't wait!!