Oh, the weather outside is FRIGHTFUL...

but, the fire, which will probably be all the heat we have later tonight, is soooo DELIGHTFUL!

Yes, I am in Washington and we are about to get a weather spanking! In fact, my lights have already been out once. The thunder and lightning has been BIG for the last half hour, the rain is coming down by the bucketfulls and the wind is picking up. It will be howling here about bed-time. My kids are already freaking out ("can we sleep with you and dad?"). We won't even get it as bad as the Olympic Peninsula.

This usually happens a couple of times each winter. This week, we seem to be caught in a series of these storms. We had one the day before yesterday and now tonight.

This happened during December a couple of years ago and my family all went to bed because it was dark. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity so after they went to bed, I lit my big Christmas Candlabra with about 12 candles, put it on my dining room table, cranked my hand-crank radio, tuned it to the local Christmas music station and wrote out all my Christmas cards by candle light. It is actually one of my best Christmas memories. The house was SO QUIET (appliances make a lot of background noise) and the flickering candles and the Christmas music were just what I needed for a peaceful evening during a crazy month.

Unfortunately, my cards are all done. So, if the lights go out tonight, I may have to find something else to do or join the kids and Mark upstairs! Actually, I'm charging up my laptop so maybe I can get a couple of hours of work done before the battery dies!