Charlie Brown Christmas Tree & a Snowy Adventure

I wrote this entry on Dec 17th:

Well we are finally home in Washington and just when I thought we'd escaped the cold weather, snow, and ice, my hopes were quickly deflated when we reached Seattle on Tuesday the 16th and it was snowing by Wednesday. I was greatly looking forward to a green Christmas with rain... maybe that will still happen. But either way, snow is always beautiful, especially in the very green northwest.

A few days before arrival, Jordon's parents decided to get a permit and go find a tree up in the mountains. From what I heard, it was quite an ordeal, but Steve found a tree and brought it back. Jean called it a "Charlie Brown" tree, so my vision of it was that it was only a few feet tall with more brown than green and few needles on the branches. To my delight, it was quite full in greenery. It was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree in its own special way. It naturally leans and has patches of branches on different areas all over the tree along with patches of no branches. I call it a tree with character! Well I thought we could definitely make do with this tree, put some lights and ornaments on it and I think it'd look great! Funny looking... but great! But alas, there were a few in the household that were set on getting a more beautiful fuller tree. So on Wednesday we ventured out and got another permit in North Bend. Jean was worried about snow that was starting to fall (there was supposed to be a big storm coming in). But Jordon wanted to drive up towards the pass and just take a look to see how bad it was and how far we could go. My wonderful husband was just starving for a snowy mountainous adventure while here on Christmas break, and by golly we sure encountered it yesterday! So here we were driving up I-90 towards Snoqualmie Pass with snow covering the freeway. That's one thing that Jordon and I aren't used to is not seeing snowplows on the freeways. See, in Idaho and Utah, there are plenty of snowplows all over the roads during snowstorms. But since it rarely snows here in Seattle, snowplows are limited around the western part of the state. So back to our adventure... here we were driving through a worsening snowstorm driving into the mountains while everyone else was driving AWAY from the mountains. Other than a bunch of semi trucks on the side of the road throwing chains on their tires and a few pickup trucks, we were one of the ONLY cars on the road going in that direction. We finally made it to the exit where we were to drive into the woods. As we exited, I noticed that we were driving through a good foot of snow (unplowed and un-driven). I kept thinking to myself “ok, when is Jordon going to feel content enough to turn around and go home? Well he threw chains on (we were driving a RAV) and we headed further into the dark snowy mountain. We were told that we’d have to drive five miles up this road before we’d start finding trees we could cut. Well we got maybe a mile in and encountered a truck that was stuck in a ditch after trying to yank a fallen tree off the roadway. We told the guy we’d come back and give him a hand on our way back down and we kept on going. Only now there was no tracks in the snow (we’d been following previous tracks). We got maybe a few hundred more feet up the mountain and couldn’t go any further. The snow was about knee deep and the car wouldn’t budge forward. Well Jordon went in reverse to head back down the way we came and within a few feet we started sliding off the road, only we were sliding towards the side of the road that travels down a steep embankment full of very large trees with a river at the bottom! AHHHHH! That’s what I wanted to say out loud. I was trying to be like a duck in water… looking calm on top but swimming vigorously below! Jordon stopped the car and got out and spent many minutes scraping snow out around our tires and using rocks to help keep us from sliding even further. Throughout this ordeal Jean and I had both spent time behind the wheel while Jordon was scraping snow, using rocks, and pushing the car trying to keep us from falling over the edge. Meanwhile, Ethan was quietly snoozing in the backseat, only to wake at the most stressful time and start screaming (which of course makes it even harder for whoever is driving to hear directions from those who were standing outside pushing against the car. At one point I was in the driver’s seat while Jordon and Jean were out pushing against the side of the car and telling me to go in reverse. I couldn’t help but think of ways to quickly unbuckle the car seat and yank myself and my child out of the car before it slips over the edge and we fall to our death. Thankfully after much prayer and hard work, we finally got back onto the roadway and made it far enough downhill where we could turn around (the truck had been yanked out of the ditch by another jeep… just in case you were wondering if we completely forgot about the other driver down the hill). Through this ordeal, I remembered how grateful I was to be married to a man who knows how to fix problems and get us out of messes like that all while keeping his cool and staying calm. Jordon is very capable and smart in many different aspects of life. He said he wasn’t worried at all and knew we’d get out eventually, but I (being a new mom with a baby in the backseat) was trying to stay calm all the while thinking that we may slide down a hill, while hitting multiple large trees and end up in a very icy cold river. I had thoughts of having to walk for miles in the snow while holding Ethan trying my best to keep him warm and as dry as possible. Oh the worries we think of when we are mothers! If it had been just the three of us, I wouldn’t have been so concerned, but things are so much different when you have a little one to take care of. Well after that ordeal we decided to hit a tree farm on the way home and picked out a tree, had the guys at the lot cut it for us and tie it down to our car… what a service! I still think the Charlie Brown tree would have given the house a certain funny entertaining look this Christmas. But after researching some books, Jordon said it was a hemlock (the Charlie brown tree) and that it most likely wouldn’t have made it to Christmas, the needles would have all fallen off. Even better! Then it would have truly been a real Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! Well that was our first adventure here on our Christmas vacation… and I’m sure it won’t be our last!